Citizens
For Legitimate Government™is a multi-partisan
activist group established to expose and resist US imperialism, corpora-terrorism,
and the New World Order.

April
2003 Archives

Geroge W. Bush: "It is
not enough to attack today's terrorists on their own soil. We must disarm
future generations of potential terrorists, both at home and abroad...
We can't simply wait for children filled with an inexplicable hatred
of our freedoms to launch their evil upon the world tomorrow. He must
meet this enemy head on and disarm them today."

*** The
CLG believes in building mass actions as opposed to individual acts
of violence, but we thought our readers might enjoy these lyrics about
now: "If
I had a Rocket Launcher."***

Iraqi men are frisked by soldiers of the
1st Batallion Parachute Regiment carrying out vehicle searches for weapons
in southern Iraq on Sunday. (AFP, AN, 3/31/03).

Saddam
Hussein key in early CIA plot
U.S. forces in Baghdad might now be searching high and low for Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussein, but in the past Saddam was seen by U.S. intelligence
services as a bulwark of anti-communism and they used him as their
instrument for more than 40 years, according to former U.S. intelligence
diplomats and intelligence officials.

Dictatorship
Hawks Want More Regime Changes
A loose-knit [loose-brained] group, whose core includes Vice pResident
Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz,
sees the war in Iraq as a model for the world's lone superpower. Some
regime supporters are already proclaiming the birth of a new historical
period and suggesting that regime change in Iraq could be followed
soon by Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Sony
leads charge to cash in on IraqJapanese
electronics giant Sony has taken an extraordinary step to cash in on
the war in Iraq by patenting the term "Shock and
Awe" for a computer game.[OMG! BushMaggots are *everywhere*!!
--Lori Price]

US
accused of plans to loot Iraqi antiques
Fears that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting at the end of
the Gulf war have been heightened after a group of wealthy
art dealers secured a high-level meeting with the US regime.

Americans,
Iraqis 'Haul Away Spoils of War' [i.e., Loot]
From palace ashtrays and pillows to jeeps and a grand piano, the spoils
of war are flying fast in Iraq. Civilians have plundered with little
fear of retribution and some U.S. soldiers have helped themselves
to battlefield souvenirs ["helped themselves to battlefield
souvenirs" --LOL, a euphemism for "looted" --Lori Price]
— a practice that could land them in trouble.

Looters
at work (photo) In Baghdad,
U.S.-U.K. invaders even took arms from the police station.

Killing
a child: 'I did what I had to do'
When a young Iraqi boy stooped to pick up a rocket propelled grenade
off the body of a dead paramilitary, US Army Private Nick Boggs made
his decision. He unloaded machinegun fire and the boy, whom he puts
at about 10 years old, fell dead on a garbage-strewn stretch of waste
land at Karbala...

Shi'ite
Group to Boycott U.S. Talks on Iraq
The main Iraqi Shi'ite opposition group said on Wednesday it would boycott
a political meeting the United States is trying to arrange in southern
Iraq next week because of the U.S. military presence.

Shi'ite
Protesters Storm Iraq's Embassy in Tehran
Dozens of supporters of Iraq's main Shi'ite Muslim opposition stormed
the Iraqi embassy in the Iranian capital, tearing down photographs of
Saddam Hussein and shouting "Death to America" on Friday, witnesses
said.

US
Proposed Iraqi Ruler a Convicted Felon
--by Erik P Sorensen "Ahmad Chalabi is the darling of the neoconservatives.
He is the anointed leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the
CIA construction designed to cabal together Iraqi expatriates and considered
to be a leading candidate to be imposed as the US selected leader
of Iraq."

Pelosi
stands by vote against Iraq war
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said it was still right to oppose
granting Dictator Bush the authority to use force to disarm Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein.

American
Flag Flap Stars and Stripes
on Saddam’s Doomed Statue Strikes a Sensitive Chord --It took Cpl. Edward
Chin just seconds to hang an Amerikan flag on the head of Saddam Hussein's
statue in central Baghdad, but it's a move that's likely to be debated
for years to come.

Who's
next for global vigilante?
--by Gwynee Dyer "So where is the next war? ...the next phase of
the drama is already taking shape offstage and is likely to be more
painful and difficult for the United States than simply smashing up
a Third World army."

Iraq
is a trial run Noam Chomsky interviewed by Frontline, by
Noam Chomsky and VK Ramachandran, Frontline India April 02, 2003. "I
cannot think of another case where hatred and contempt for democracy
have so openly been proclaimed, not just by the government, but also
by liberal commentators and others." [Neither can we, Noam.]

Producer
Is a Casualty in CBS's 'Hitler' Miniseries
Ed Gernon, longtime head of the movie and miniseries division of Canadian-based
production company Alliance Atlantis, was let go because of an interview
he gave regarding CBS's May sweeps miniseries Hitler: The Rise of
Evil. ...Gernon is quoted as saying of the miniseries, which tracks
Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Germany: "It basically boils down
to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately
chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole world
into war. I can't think of a better time to examine this history than
now," Gernon tells the upcoming TV Guide that he, [actress Julianna]
Margulies and director Christian Duguay believe
it's a good idea to look at the Bush White House through the prism of
. . . Germany's genocidal psychopath."[Call,
write, and scream at Alliance Atlantis for their FASCIST REPRESSION
OF LEGITIMATE OPINION, a la McCarthyism!!!! Alliance Atlantis Communications
Inc. Corporate Offices Toronto, ON M4X1J9 (416) 967-0022 (416) 967-8061
(fax) television@allianceatlantis.com;
investor@allianceatlantis.com]

The
Fall of 'Hitler' ProducerGernon
fired from miniseries after comparing war push to Nazism --The
company behind the four-hour biopic has dropped one of the program's
top producers after he compared the Bush dictatorship's pre-emptive
strike policy on Iraq with the rise of Nazism. [If the comparison
was absurd, why the uproar? LOL. --Lori Price]

Rightwing
protesters attack Garofalo showWill
another anti-war celeb take a career hit?
Bush supporters have been deluging ABC with calls and e-mails,
complaining about a sitcom the network has in development starring outspoken
war protester Janeane Garofalo. The pro-war protesters are threatening
to organize a major campaign against ABC, including a boycott of
advertisers, if the network airs the show.

The
high cost of Bush-bashing
Janeane Garofalo's relentless bashing of Dictator Bush just might have
doomed her new ABC sitcom, Slice O'Life. ABC has been deluged
with calls and e-mails from viewers threatening to boycott the network
and its advertisers if the sitcom gets on the schedule. The war ''is
a manufactured conflict for the sake of geopolitical
dominance,'' Garofalo declared to the Washington Post in
January, in one of her many outbursts against the Idiot Usurping Lying
Dictatorial Weasel, "I refuse to allow
my government and the mainstream media to bully me into accepting a
war that is immoral and illegal."

Citizens
protest USA Patriot Act"Stand
up, we've had enough!" and "2-4-6-8, we don't want your police
state!" echoed between buildings Wednesday evening as about 200
students and residents marched from the Bloomington Courthouse to the
local FBI office.

Tests
point to domestic source behind anthrax letter attacksArmy reproductions hurt theories of
foreign culprit --Army scientists have reproduced the anthrax powder
used in the 2001 mail attacks and concluded that it was made using simple
methods, inexpensive equipment and limited expertise, according to government
sources familiar with the work.

House
Approves $2.27 Trillion Budget for 2004
A budget endorsing up to $550 billion in tax cuts through 2013 passed
narrowly in the House early Friday, and seemed on its way to Senate
passage with the expected support of a pivotal moderate.

House
passes pro-development energy bill
The House approved sweeping incentives Friday for oil and gas production,
including a green light for drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge, despite
complaints that the legislation gives too much to energy companies and
does little to promote conservation.

TV
Commercial Blasts Citigroup for Environmental Destruction
A new TV commercial blasting Citigroup for funding environmental destruction
is airing in New York beginning this week. The ad by Rainforest Action
Network (RAN) features celebrities cutting up Citi credit cards and
shows graphic footage representing the environmental destruction caused
by Citi’s unethical lending practices.

Guidelines
for Hatemail (humor) --by Carol
Schiffler "Because we are growing weary of deleting mail from the
inbred and clueless, we feel it has become necessary to lay down a few
rules for those who feel compelled to send us the inane musings of their
last, festering brain cell."

***Where,
oh where, are the CLG newsletters going? Where, oh where, can they be?
I have been sending the CLG newsletters to our list and they seem to
be arriving... nowhere, since April 7. Please know that we are updating
the CLG website throughout the day anyway. [Perhaps the CLG newsletter
has also been "liberated" (i.e. OBLITERATED)
by the Bush regime. --Michael Rectenwald and Lori Price]

After
Iraq, rogue nations won't be spared: Hoon
If you thought the war on Iraq is over, wait. This could be just the
first of many more to come. British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has
said that pre-emptive military strikes against rogue nations that sponsor
terrorism are likely to become more common... With the future of the
UN under threat already, an Anglo-American military axis is now seen
as emerging, with the attack on Iraq as only its first venture.

Hawks
in U.S. Eyeing Syria As Next Target
Debating its threat to region --With victory in Iraq assured, hawks
outside and inside the Bush dictatorship have begun taking a notably
aggressive stance toward its neighbor to the west, Syria.

Bush
planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President [sic]
A secret blueprint for US global domination
reveals that Dictator Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated
attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power
[yes, literally 'took' power] in January 2001. The blueprint, uncovered
by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was
drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- pResident), Donald Rumsfeld (defence
secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger
brother Jeb[mega barf alert: Jeb's involvement] and Lewis
Libby (Cheney's chief of staff).

Iraqi
Shi'ite leader assassinatedSenior Iraqi Sh'ite leader Abdul Majid al-Khoei and his aide have
been assassinated in an attack in the holiest shrine in the central
Iraqi city of Najaf, members of his family foundation have told Reuters.

Suicide
Attack Kills 'Some' Soldiers in Baghdad, US Says
A suicide bomber killed "some" American soldiers at a military checkpoint
in Baghdad Thursday, a U.S. officer said. Asked by reporters how many
U.S. servicemen had died in the attack, Marine officer Matt Baker told
a Reuters correspondent in the Iraqi capital: "Some are dead in the
attack but I don't know how many."

Baghdad:
a battle that did not happen
The minimal resistance U.S. troops faced in Baghdad and the quasi-collapse
of President Saddam Hussein's regime came as a surprise to many Arabs
Wednesday, triggering speculation about the unimpeded advance of
U.S. forces into the capital.

Troops
fired on ambulance: doctor
Two Iraqis were killed and three others wounded when US troops shot
at an ambulance on a central Baghdad street, a doctor has said.

US-backed
militia terrorises town
Hay Al Ansar, on the outskirts of Najaf in Iraq, was glad to be rid
of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party government, when the city was seized
by US forces last week. But they appear to be just as terrified,
if not more so, of their new
rulers -a little-known Iraqi militia backed by the US special
forces and headquartered in a compound nearby.

Iraqi
Girl’s Foot Liberated From Leg
(Satire on US-UK terrorism in Iraq from Babylon Express) "Baghdad:
US military officials are hailing the liberation of a 12 year old Iraqi
girl’s left foot from her leg as a 'huge step forward' in winning the
battle for the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Iraqi people."

'We
shoot them down like the morons they are': US general
Hundreds of Muslim fighters, many of them non-Iraqis, were putting up
a stronger fight for Baghdad than Iraq's Republican Guard or the regular
army, a top United States military officer said yesterday. "They stand,
they fight, sometimes they run when we engage them," Brigadier-General
Terrorist John Kelly said. "But often they run into our machine guns
and we shoot them down like the morons they are."

U.K.
Forces Committed Mass Killing In Umm Qasr: Iraqis
The U.K. troops in the Iraqi southern port city of Umm Qasr set upmass graves in the city to cover up hard evidence
of committing massacres that claimed the lives of some 200 Iraqis
in the first days of the war, unleashed on March 20, eyewitnesses told
IslamOnlin.net
Tuesday, April 8.

Bombs
Blast Homes Instead of Saddam Hussein
--by Peter Arnett "Yarub al-Sadoon recognised me from my days with
CNN. He lives in a house across the alleyway. Yarub was thrown to the
ground by the explosion but he and his family were unhurt. Outraged
he prodded my chest saying: 'You won't even cover this. The Americans
don't want to hear this. I defy you to cover it. Is this freedom that
you bring us? All you come here for is to kill innocent people. You
bring us death.'"

Injured
overwhelm hospitals Health
organisations have warned that hospitals in Baghdad have been swamped
with casualties now that fierce urban combat has erupted across the
city, with supplies dwindling and medical personnel caught in the crossfire
and unable to report to work.

Agency
wages media battle Team
makes sure war message is unified, positive --The Office of Global Communications,
a controversial agency created by Dictator Bush in January, has blossomed
into a huge production company, issuing daily scripts on the Iraq
war to U.S. spokesmen around the world, auditioning generals to give
media briefings and booking regime stars on foreign news shows. [Rove's
"Joseph Goebbels Office of Global Propaganda" --Lori Price]

US
fires on Russian diplomats fleeing Baghdad
Five Russian diplomats were injured April 6 as they attempted to leave
Baghdad, when their convoy was fired on by American forces west of the
Iraqi capital. The wounded included Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko, who
later told Moscow media that he was lucky to be alive.

Editors
blast Rumsfeld over 'reckless' US strike
Representatives of editors in 115 countries have written to Donald Rumsfeld
to condemn the "inexcusable" and "reckless" American attack on a hotel
in Baghdad, which left two journalists dead and several injured.

Iraqis
have paid the blood price for a fraudulent warThe
crudely colonial nature of this enterprise can no longer be disguised
"In reality, the course
of the conflict has strengthened the case against a war supposedly launched
to rid Iraq of 'weapons of mass destruction' - but which has now
morphed into a crusade for regime change as evidence for the original
pretext has so embarrassingly not materialised."

Busted,
broke, and on the back burner The
Bush dictatorship is breaking its vow to rebuild Afghanistan. Why should
we believe it will do a better job in Iraq? --by Richard Byrne "White
House officials apparently
forgot to request funds to rebuild the country they bombed to such hoopla
shortly after the September 11 attacks. Congressional staffers who caught
the slip eventually requested $300 million for reconstructing Afghanistan."

India
has developed chemical weapons of mass destruction : Rashid
Federal Minister for Information and Media Development Sheikh Rashid
Ahmad on Monday warned India of grave consequences against any misadventure
of attacking Pakistan saying his country also has the right [thanks
to BushMaggot's setting the precedent] of pre-emptive strikes. He
accused India for secretly developing nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons of mass destruction.

106th CONGRESS 1st Session
H. R. 1146 To end membership of the United States in the United Nations.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES A
BILL To end membership of the United States in the United Nations.
Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) re-introduced H.R. 1146 in March 2003.
The bill was referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
Cosponsors as of March 12, 2003: Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland),
Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.), and Rep. Joel
Hefley (R-Colo.)

NY
Police Admit Keeping Anti-War Protest Database
New York police admitted on Thursday to compiling and then destroying
a database of people arrested during anti-war protests, but rights groups
decried the practice as an erosion of civil liberties in the name of
the U.S. war on terrorism.

Denver
Men Are Ordered Released in Terror ProbeCharges Against Two Not Proved, Judge Says --A federal judge
rebuffed the government's Joint Terrorism Task Force today and ordered
the release of two Pakistanis living in Denver whom the FBI has described
as potential terrorists eager to wage war against the United States.

Houston
on list of top terror targets
Homeland Suckyourity Secretary Tom Ridge has identified Houston as one
of seven cities most vulnerable to a terrorist attack, based on criteria
that include population density [?!?] and intelligence squeezed from
al-Qaida detainees[!?!] [not to mention, the pet pork-barrell projects
that will suck the Homeland Suckyourity funds, too. --Lori Price]

House
Passes Gun Lawsuit Immunity Bill
A bill giving gun manufacturers and dealers broad protection from civil
lawsuits arising from the misuse of firearms easily passed the U.S.
House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Pentagon
Threatens to Fire on Independent Reporters in Iraq(March 10, 2003)
The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite
uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according
to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish
radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such
potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who
cares.. ..They've been warned."

US
accused of plans to loot Iraqi antiques
Fears that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting at the end of
the Gulf war have been heightened after a group of wealthy art dealers
secured a high-level meeting with the US regime.

Lawmakers
want tribunal to try Iraqis
Lawmakers called Tuesday for international tribunals to prosecute Iraqi
war crimes, including suicide car bombings that have killed U.S. soldiers.
[The CLG wants a tribunal to try Bush et al. for international
war crimes.]

U.S.
Says Syria May Be Helping Move Out Iraqis
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld charged on Wednesday that Syria
might be helping Saddam Hussein's supporters to flee Iraq. [Looks
like the Bush terrorist team is trolling for more invasions... --Lori
Price]

Israel
eyes Iraqi oil An Israeli
minister says he wants to reopen a pipeline which has been closed
for more than fifty years to bring Iraqi oil through Jordan to Israel's
Mediterranean coast.

Will
Oil Flow Again From Iraq to Israel?[LOL!
That would be "Duh!"] News media worldwide, from the Aftenposten
in Norway and the The Balochistan Post in India to the Washington Post
and Forbes Online, are quoting a source from Israels National Infrastructures
Ministryas saying that Israel and Jordan have
started talks on reopening the old Iraq-Israel oil pipeline.

Baghdad
Diary 7 April 3 pm and
7.15 pm: Dr. Geert Van Moorter en Dr. Harrie Dewitte by satellite phone
(WARNING: Graphic photos of US-UK
invaders' terrorism committed against Iraqis) "An 'embedded' journalist,
thinking I was a colleague of his, told me something fearful", [Dr.]
Geert [Van Moorter] adds. 'American soldiers shot two Iraqi soldiers
that had surrendered! He saw pictures of this but knows they won't be
shown on CNN. The pictures show two Iraqi soldiers
with their hands on their heads. As they are lying down, G.I.s step
forward and shoot them in cold blood!'

Britain
Claims 'Breakdown' Of Iraqi Regime
With Arab and foreign TV channels showing footage of reported looting
of government buildings and U.N. office in Baghdad, Britain said Wednesday,
April 9, that Iraq's command and control structure appears to have broken
down but admitted resistance to advancing U.S. troops were still
quite fierce.

Iraqi
Regime Collapses, Baghdad Under U.S. Control
After a blistering three-week of U.S.-led aggression on Iraq and as
a sign that the Iraqi regime would soon be history, U.S. tanks and troops
poured into the heart of Baghdad Wednesday, April 9, amid scenes of
jubilation from the Iraqis.

Iraqi
government collapses United
States-led forces have snapped the spine of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein government
but the war is not yet formally over, the US military has declared.

Boy
Bomb Victim Struggles Against Despair
Ali Ismaeel Abbas, 12, was fast asleep when war shattered his life.
A missile obliterated his home and most of his family, leaving him orphaned,
badly burned - and blowing off both his arms...[Another
"liberated" Iraqi]

King
George Returns Neo-imperialism
and the 'Anglosphere' – pro-war immigrants want an American Empire --by
Justin Raimondo "The tax burden alone is enough to permanently
crush any hope of freeing up the American economy, and, besides that,
an empire cries out for an Emperor – or a President with monarchical
powers. The Founders warned against the dangers of foreign entanglements
and overseas wars precisely because they feared the restoration of royalism."

StopJayGarner.com
is an international coalition advocating for the United Nations - not
weapons maker Jay Garner --to oversee Iraq's transition to democracy.
As a former Army General who until recently was building weapons systems
now being used in the Iraq war, Jay Garner is no man of peace. In fact,
he's just the man to inflame Iraq and the region.

The
Reason Why --by George
McGovern 'Thanks to the most crudely partisan decision in the history
of the Supreme Court, the nation has been given a President [sic]
of painfully limited wisdom and compassion and lacking any sense of
the nation's true greatness. Appearing to enjoy his role as Commander
in Chief of the armed forces above all other functions of his office,
and unchecked by a seemingly timid Congress, a compliant Supreme Court,
a largely subservient press and a corrupt corporate plutocracy, George
W. Bush has set the nation on a course for one-man rule."

94
Arrested In Protest On 5th Ave.
Nearly 100 anti-war protesters were arrested in midtown yesterday after
they blocked the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue while protesting the Carlyle
Group, which they accused of profiting from the war against
Iraq, police said.

UA
student arrested during anti-war demonstration
A Fayetteville man was arrested for criminal trespass Saturday at the
Northwest Arkansas Mall when he and other members of a University of
Arkansas student group attempted to enter the facility wearing T-shirts
emblazoned with antiwar slogans.

German
Professors Declare War on English Terms
A group of German university professors, angered by the U.S.-British
war against Iraq, have launched a campaign to replace many popular
English-language words used in Germany with French terms.

Readers
mad that Chronicle ran ad to impeach Bush[Too
bleeping bad!!] Monday's ad, which typically would cost about $45,000,
called for the impeachment of Bush, Vice pResident Dick Cheney,
Defense Secretary SickkoDonald Rumsfeld and Attorney
General John Ashkkkroft. The ad charged
that all four have committed war crimes and crimes against the Constitution.
In the course of the war in Iraq and the campaign against terrorism,
the Bush dictatorship has "ordered and directed the violent overthrow
of sovereign states, disappearances, kidnappings, assassinations, summary
executions, murders and torture," the ad continued.

Republicans
Want Terror Law Made Permanent
Working with the Bush dictatorship, Congressional Republicans are maneuvering
to make permanent the sweeping antiterrorism powers granted to federal
law enforcement agents after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials
said today.

Town
Seeks to Ban Political Smirks
A raised eyebrow, loud guffaw, smirk or other facial expressions could
all be banned in future political debate under rules proposed
for the city council of the Californian city of Palo Alto.

French
TV film shows US tank blasting hotel
Footage filmed by France 3 television of a strike on a hotel which killed
two journalists in Baghdad on Tuesday shows
a US tank targeting the journalists' hotel and waiting at least two
minutes before firing, according to an AFP correspondent
who viewed the film.

The turret of a U.S. tank (at left) aiming
at a hotel filled with journalists before firing from a bridge in Baghdad
on Tuesday. The Palestine Hotel came under fire after U.S. troops said
snipers were shooting at them from the building. -- AP

Army
admits firing on hotelUS
army chiefs today admitted they had fired on the Palestine Hotel
in Baghdad in an attack that left six western journalists injured.

Second
journalist dies after hotel strike
A third journalist has been killed as a result of US attacks on two
media bases in Baghdad today after a Spanish TV station confirmed that
one of its cameramen were killed.

Al-Jazeera
cameraman killed in US raid
An al-Jazeera cameraman has died and another of the Arabic-language
news channel's journalists is missing after a US-UK invaders' bombing
raid hit its Baghdad office this morning.

Iraqis
fight back as Baghdad burns
Iraqi forces staged a major counterattack today, sending buses
and trucks full of fighters across the Tigris river in an attempt to
overrun U.S. troops holding a strategic intersection on Baghdad's western
side.

Iraq
vows no surrender US forces
will either surrender or "be burned in their tanks," Iraqi Information
Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf warned when asked if Iraq would surrender.

Iraqi
troops fight backIraqi
forces defending the capital Baghdad have hit back with artillery,
mortar and sniper fire after U.S. troops thrust into the heart of
the city.

Half
of U.S. Troop Deaths Said Accidental
Since the war began in Iraq, one American soldier has been electrocuted,
at least two others have drowned and nine more have died in automobile
wrecks. All appear to be victims of accidents, which so far are responsible
for about half the fatalities among U.S. troops sent to the Middle East
for the war.

Antiwar
leaders to meet in RussiaPutin
invites Chirac and Schroeder; Annan also expected --Leaders of the
main countries opposing the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq will
meet in St. Petersburg, Russia, this weekend, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Arab
critics slam post-war plans
Prominent Arab political analysts and humanitarian experts have told
United Press International that a Western military occupation of
Iraq, even for the short period pressed by the Pentagon, will further
destabilize the volatile region and could lead to chaos and violence.

CIA
report slams Pentagon's favorite Iraqi
The Central Intelligence Agency issued a report last week claiming that
the opposition leader airlifted by the Pentagon to Iraq over the weekend,
Ahmad Chalabi, would not be an effective leader to replace Saddam Hussein
because many Iraqis do not like him.

The
war plan comes full circle
In battle for Baghdad, 'truth or dare' replaces 'shock and awe' --The
U.S. war plan circled back on itself this week, zeroing in specifically
on Saddam Hussein in an air attack as Amerikan armored task forces tore
through the capital’s southern and western neighborhoods. A key Amerikan
strategy-along with actual military victories- is to convince Iraqis
of the inevitability of Saddam’s defeat. The psy ops war is back.

U.S.
Plans Trials of Iraqis Accused of War Crimes
The United States plans to conduct trials of Iraqis alleged to have
committed war crimes against American forces and could possibly include
President Saddam Hussein and his sons, U.S. officials said on Monday.
[Speaking of W-ar crimes, can The Hague
try Dictator Bush and Prime Minister Poodle Tony Blair for W-ar
crimes? Bush needs to be tried in the US for treason, as well.]

In
Bid to Shape a Postwar Iraq, U.S. Propaganda Goes by the Schoolbook
When the new Iraqi school year begins in five months, the Bush dictatorship
hopes to have in place wholesale revisions to textbooks that
have taught a generation of Iraqis. The revisions are part of an ambitious
U.S. effort to propagandize a school curriculum that has touted Iraqi
battlefield prowess and weaponry and demonized the United States as
a fearsome enemy [which it is, lest we all forget 'Shock & Awe'
just because media whore Bob Arnot has. --Lori Price]

Demonstrators
Protest at Port Chicago
Monday morning a small band of protesters demonstrated at the former
Concord Naval Weapons Station. They say ammunition is shipped through
there, for use in the war against Iraq.

Vietnamistan
--The News Blackout on What Is Happening in Afghanistan
--by Michael Gilson De Lemos "...as we launch into this next glorious
war in Iraq, I have one question. What’s going on in the present one?
You know, Afghanistan, the land we used to call 'Moscow’s Vietnam.'
It’s not that the government tells questionable tales, from magical
Bin-Laden tapes and miraculously preserved 9-11 attack passports to
our 'anti-Taliban' forces one day blandly re-branded as 'rebel warlords'
the next, like Lawrence of Arabias randomly turning into menacing Conan
the Barbarians."

Syria
now top US target for 'regime change'
One of the main subjects on the agenda of the Belfast summit yesterday
was Syria, the Pentagon's next likely target for "regime change" amid
suspicions it allowed Saddam Hussein to transfer weapons of mass destruction
within its borders.

House
Democrats Want Halliburton ProbeQuestioning
whether Vice pResident Dick Cheney's former company has
received favored treatment from the Pentagon[boy, that
sure is a no-brainer, isn't it? LOL!], senior House Democrats asked
Congress' investigative agency Tuesday to delve into contracts awarded
Halliburton Co. over the past two years.

John
Negroponte's 600,000-dollar kitchen
The United States will pay 600,000 dollars
to remodel and expand the kitchen at the residence of the US ambassador
to the United Nations, former torturer John Negroponte.

Bush
Annoys U.S. Muslim Group with Pipes Nomination
Dictator Bush has named controversial Middle East commentator Daniel
Pipes to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace to the dismay of a
major American Muslim organization, which described Pipes on Monday
as a "Muslim-basher" with bigoted views.

Norm
Coleman's stupid remark about Paul Wellstone
After telling a Capitol newspaper that he's a "a 99 percent improvement"
over the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, Sen. Norm Coleman said he would never
want to diminish the legacy of his Democratic predecessor. "To be very
blunt and God watch over Paul's soul, I am a 99 percent improvement
over Paul Wellstone," Coleman, R-Maggot-Minn., said in a front-page
story published in Roll Call. "Just about on every issue."

Fischer
rejects talks venue The
German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, provoked a new row about the
status of Jerusalem yesterday when he refused to attend a meeting at
the Israeli justice ministry because it is in the occupied east of the
city.

German
Diplomat Defends Israeli Snub
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Tuesday he had no choice
but to refuse a visit with Israel's justice minister because the official
insisted on meeting in disputed east Jerusalem.

Big
role urged for oil firms after W-ar
Iraqi exiles and senior U.S. officials agreed Saturday that international
oil companies should take a leading post-W-ar
role in "reviving" Iraq’s oil industry, delegates to a
policy meeting said. [Oh. I thought the war in Iraq was not a war
for oil. --Lori Price]

U.S.
could run Iraq for more than 6 months
It will take more than six months
for an Iraqi government to be created to run the country after President
Saddam Hussein’s regime has been defeated, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary
[and rightwing whackjob] Paul Wolfowitz said Sunday. [Yes, the US
will be 'Vietnam-ing'-it right up until the touch-screen voting machine
rigged s-elections of 2004. The impending
worst laid plans of mice and maggots will be predicated on this mantra:
'we have to stand by the president [well, dictator, actually] in times
of national crises.' --Lori Price]

Digging in for the 2004
s-elections:Chalabi
Sees 2-Year Stay in Iraq for U.S. Military An Iraqi opposition
leader who told U.S. officials to expect an easy victory over Saddam
Hussein said in an interview taped for broadcast on Sunday that the
American military may have to stay in Iraq for at leasttwo
years.

Bush,
Blair to map out post-war Iraq plans
US Dictator George W Bush has arrived in Belfast for a summit with his
staunchest ally, British Prime Minister Poodle Tony Blair, to map out
plans for a post-war Iraq.

Cracks
in the US-UK invasion forces
Following Poodle Blair's failed attempts to draw Britain's EU partners
into the US camp, cracks have emerged within the US-British invasion
forces. Meanwhile, the European peace camp is gearing up for another
confrontation at the UN.

U.S.
Airlifts Iraqi Exile Force For Duties Near Nasiriyah
In a surprise move, the United States has begun airlifting hundreds
of members of an Iraqi exile group into southern Iraq, vanguard elements
of what a high-ranking Pentagon officer said would form the basis of
a new Iraqi army.

It's
Too Soon to Tell, but Expect the Final Tab to Be High
The price of war is usually measured in blood, but the number of dollars
required can also be staggering. Though it is too early to know how
expensive the war in Iraq will ultimately be, members of Congress paid
a first installment this week that gives a glimpse of the high costs
— and the possible trade-offs — yet to come.

White
man's burden The war in
Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them
Jewish, who are pushing Dictator Bush to change the course of history.
Two of them, journalists William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, say
it's possible. But another journalist, Thomas Friedman (not part of
the group), is skeptical --by Ari Shavit "In the final analysis,
what fomented the war is America's over-reaction to September 11. ...It
is not only the neoconservatives who led us to the outskirts of Baghdad.
What led us to the outskirts of Baghdad is a very American combination
of anxiety and hubris."

Despair
of a Village at Devastation--by
Peter Arnett "Baker Nagill Sacanda Mohammed holds a blackened flatbread
in his outstretched arms and begs for answers nobody can give. Behind
him are the smouldering remains of his bakery, the hub of this quiet
Shi'ite community until the war finally caught up with it 45 minutes
ago... There are no obvious military targets here, just row after row
of mud-walled houses..."

New
Report: Water Under Siege In Iraq
Human Rights Group Warns US/UK Military Forces Risk Committing War Crimes
by Depriving Civilians of Safe Water (Press release) "A new report
by the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), WATER UNDER SIEGE
IN IRAQ, charges that the United States and United Kingdom risk committing
war crimes by depriving Iraqi civilians of safe water. In
urban centers throughout southern and central Iraq, millions of civilians
face disease and possible death due to inadequate access to water as
a result of the US-British invasion."

Red
Cross: Iraq Wounded Too High to CountRed
Cross Says Number of Casualties in Baghdad Is So High That Hospitals
Have Stopped Counting --The number of casualties in Baghdad
is so high that hospitals have stopped counting the number of people
treated, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday.

US
rampage through Baghdad kills thousands
The American military has officially claimed the 64th Armored Regiment
of the US Third Infantry Division killed between 2,000 and 3,000 Iraqis
during a three-hour rampage through southwestern Baghdad on April 5.

Washington's
colonial regime in waiting for Baghdad
As the brutal US-led invasion of Iraq continues into its third week,
a team of hundreds of mainly US officials is preparing to take the reins
of power in Baghdad... There is no doubt as to its political character—it
will be a neo-colonial regime implementing
the dictates of Washington. [The Bush regime is poised to install
a satellite Bush dictatorship in Iraq. --Lori Price]

A
morally hollow victoryNo amount of PR will disguise the fact that this war is an outrage
against humanity --by Mary Riddell "On the separate question
of whether Iraqi acts of war are on a par with those of the coalition
[sic], the answer is also simple. Ours are sometimes worse. The spectre
of chemical attack remains, but, amid Iraqi Scuds unfired and bio-weapons
undiscovered, reality trumps fear. The cluster-bombing of civilians
by an invading force proclaiming its superior power is an outrage against
humanity and the Geneva Convention."

Bomb
alerts in Belfast before Bush-Blair summitThree bomb alerts were issued in
Belfast just hours before the arrival of US Dictator George W Bush for
a summit focusing on Iraq with British Prime Minister Poodle Tony Blair.
[Live by the sword...]

1000
protest at Bush, Blair talks
More than 1000 opponents of the war in Iraq are protesting near
Hillsborough Castle near Belfast, where US Dictator George W. Bush and
British Prime Minister Poodle Tony Blair are due to hold a summit.

Nuns
Convicted in Missile-Silo Protest
A federal jury convicted three Roman Catholic nuns Monday of defacing
a missile silo by swinging hammers and painting crosses on it with their
own blood. The three women face a maximum penalty of 30
years in prison[!?!] when they are sentenced July
25.

Church
Event Set for Base Stirs Concern
The Army major general who commands Fort Bragg's training center for
special operations forces has invited a group of predominantly Southern
Baptist pastors to the base this month to participate in a military-themed
motivational program for Christian evangelists.

Enemy
Forces Fire Missiles at U.S. Sites in Afghanistan
(DoD) "Unknown enemy forces" [?!? If they are *enemies*,
shouldn't DoD know who they are? LOL.] fired missiles at U.S. forces
in Afghanistan in three separate incidents over the weekend, a military
spokesman in Bagram said today.

India
to test long-range nuclear-capable missile
India hopes to test a third variant of a long-range nuclear-capable
surface-to-surface missile this year, Defence Minister George Fernandes
has said. [No oil in India --hence, the "third variant of a
long-range nuclear-capable surface-to-air missile" is NOT
a WMD, according to the Bush regime.] --Lori Price

Librarians
Use Shredder to Show Opposition to New F.B.I. Powers
The daily shredding of library materials is part of a campaign by Santa
Cruz libraries to demonstrate their opposition to the Patriot Act.
Among provisions that have angered librarians nationwide is one that
allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation to review certain business
records of "people under suspicion", which has been interpreted
to include the borrowing or purchase of books and the use of the
Internet at libraries, bookstores and cafes.

Feds
Label Wi-Fi a Terrorist Tool
Attention, Wi-Fi users: The Department of Homeland Security sees wireless
networking technology as a terrorist threat. "Homeland Security is putting
people in place who will be in a position to say, 'If you're going to
get broken into ... we're going to start regulating,'" said Cable and
Wireless security architect Shannon Myers in a panel dubbed "Homeland
Security vs. Wi-Fi." [That's OK: I see Homeland Suckyourity as *the*
terrorist threat. --Lori Price]

A
whiff of fascism --by Carla
Binion "Traits of classic fascism include: strong nationalism,
expansionism, belligerent militarism, meshing of big business and government
with a corporate/government oligarchy, subversion of democracy and human
rights, disinformation spread by constant propaganda and tight corporate/government
control of the press. Today all of those conditions exist in our country
to a degree."

Black
Ga. Lawmakers Oppose Flag Proposal
Black lawmakers expressed their opposition Monday to a proposal for
an entirely new state flag, saying it could open the door to a referendum
on restoring the Confederate battle emblem.

No
WMD in Iraq, admits US
The US military said today it had not yet found any weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) and it believed there was a diminishing threat that
Iraq might use them as US-led troops take over more territory. "The
places it's most likely to be found we haven't even gotten to them yet,"
[?!?] Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at Central
Command in Qatar.

US
begins the process of 'regime change'
The US is ready to install the first leg of an interim government for
the new Iraq as early as Tuesday, even while fighting still rages in
Baghdad, officials said yesterday. America's readiness to establish
the first stages of a civil administration to run post-war Iraq comes
at lightning speed and constitutes a rebuff to European ambitions
to stall on the process until some kind of role for the United Nations
is agreed. It was reported yesterday that the National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has also ruled out any key role for
the UN. [Can the U.S. have a regime change now? We need one very
badly. --Lori Price]

U.S.
Plan For Iraq's Future Is Challenged
Pentagon Control, Secrecy Questioned --As it anticipates imminent victory
in Iraq, the Bush dictatorship is facing questions, criticism and the
threatened rejection of significant parts of its plan for rebuilding
the country and establishing a new, representative Iraqi government.

US
accused of hypocrisy on human rights
State Department reveals double standards in annual global assessment
of government treatment of citizens --The US State Department released
its latest global report on human rights last week, inviting some
ironic comment since the United States can now easily be perceived to
have broken its own guidelines about the physical mistreatment of prisoners
and suspension of judicial due process.

Some
worry U.S. may bend facts for policyIntelligence:
Analysts pressured to spin reports to support White House position,
veterans say. Some former intelligence officers and historians say
they are seeing a worrisome pattern of Vietnam-style
politicization of intelligence, with pressure to play up the threat
from Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and to minimize the potential
for Iraqi resistance and the threat the war poses to regional stability.

The
War For Truth --by John
Pilger "'We had a great day,' said Sgt Eric Schrumpf of the US
Marines last Saturday. 'We killed a lot of people.' He added: 'We
dropped a few civilians, but what do you do?' He said there were
women standing near an Iraqi soldier, and one of them fell when he and
other Marines opened fire. 'I'm sorry,'
said Sgt Schrumpf, 'but the chick was in the
way'... Like their [Amerikan] attack on Iraq, their invasion
of Vietnam was accompanied by a racist contempt for the people.

US
'friendly fire' hits Kurdish convoy·
10 'killed' in mistaken attack · Senior Kurdish leader 'injured' · BBC
man hit by shrapnel --An Amerikan warplane was today reported to have
bombed a Kurdish convoy travelling in northern Iraq with members of
the US special forces, killing at least 10 people.

U.S.
Friendly Fire Kills 18 KurdsU.S. warplanes struck a convoy of allied Kurdish fighters and U.S.
Special Forces during a northern battle Sunday in one of the deadliest
friendly fire attacks of the Iraqi war. At least 18 people were killed
and more than 45 wounded, including senior Kurdish commanders, Kurdish
officials said.

The
Battle of Baghdad'Ever
so slowly, the suburbs were turned into battlefields' --by Robert
Fisk "At first, I thought the soldiers on the back were sleeping,
covered in blankets to keep them warm. Yet I had opened my car window
to keep cool this early summer morning and I realised that all the soldiers
– there must have been 15 of them in the little truck – were lying on
top of each other, all with their heavy black military boots dangling
over the tailboard. The two soldiers on the vehicles sat with their
feet wedged between the corpses. So did America's first victims of the
day go to their eternal rest."

Two
more Belgian doctors to besieged Baghdad
"Belgian NGOs Medical Aid for the Third World (MATW) (www.m3m.be)
and S.O.S. Irak Belgium (www.irak.be)
remain in Iraq during the bombings and the invasion to witness the
American and British aggression as well as the Iraqi resistance.
They will comfort the people, monitor the effects of war on health and
health care, observe how the Iraqi health services cope, and assist
their Iraqi colleagues whenever possible. April 5: Today an additional
medical emergency mission has left for Baghdad..."

First
U.S. Plane Lands at Baghdad Airport
A U.S. C-130 military transporter touched down at Baghdad airport on
Sunday, the first plane to land since U.S. forces seized the facility
early on Friday, a U.S. military source told Reuters.

Arab
troops battle US forces outside Baghdad
Egyptians, Jordanians, Saudis and Syrians are fighting alongside Iraqi
troops against US forces moving on Baghdad, using tactics including
suicide bombings which left two marines dead, US officers said.

3
CIA assets killed in Baghdad
Three Iraqis who aided the CIA in the March 20 attempt by the United
States to kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were executed this week
by Iraqi counterintelligence, former and serving U.S. officials told
United Press International.

Near
Baghdad, U.S. troops encounter a 'remarkable' foe'Jihad'
forces from Syria, Egypt, Marine officers say --Until yesterday
the Marines had pushed north at a brisk pace and encountered less resistance
than expected from elements of the Iraqi army and Republican Guard...

American
peace activist shot in face
Jerusalem: An American peace activist working as a volunteer "human
shield" in the West Bank was seriously wounded today when Israeli troops
allegedly opened fire on him.

Army
chaplain: baptism or no bath
CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, there's
an oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water. It belongs
to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water shortage,
which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for weeks,
as an opportunity. ''It's simple. They want water. I have it, as
long as they agree to get baptized,'' he said.

Now
playing: Saving Private Lynch
--by Linda McQuaig "One could have easily gotten the impression
last week that the war in Iraq is being fought to liberate pretty young
American girls from Iraqi hospitals. After a week of news of Iraqis
strenuously resisting U.S. efforts to liberate them, the American campaign
badly needed something to make war feel good again in the homeland."
[LOL!]

U.S.
writes off Pakistan's $1b debt
The U.S. yesterday waived debt worth $1 billion owed by Pakistan. Pakistan,
as a key ally of Washington in the 18-month-old "war on terrorism",
helped the U.S. topple the Taliban regime and dismantle Osama bin Laden's
Al Qaida network in Afghanistan.

Protesters
plan to stop war shipments
Shifting protests against the war in Iraq to a new level, a San Francisco
group says that it will set up a picket line Monday to block supplies
being shipped to U.S. forces fighting in Iraq. The group, Direct Action
to Stop the War, said will attempt to "shut
down the war merchants" at the port of Oakland by urging
members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to not cross
the picket line.

Protests
Continue in War's Second Week
(Oakland, CA) Thousands of protesters roared their approval of Rep.
Barbara Lee at a downtown gathering here on Saturday, interrupting her
anti-war remarks with spontaneous chants of "Impeach
Bush."

Singer
Belafonte feels the beat of anti-war sentiment
Keynote speaker at Oakland rally hears international criticism --As
he performed before sellout audiences across Europe during the first
days of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Harry Belafonte heard more anti- American
comments than he has in more than a half-century of traveling the world.

Conyers
chastises Bush during downtown rally
The United States may now be battling to topple the regime of Iraq's
Saddam Hussein. But Dictator George W. Bush will have a surprise
of his own when his own regime is toppled,
a U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said Saturday.[Topple,
topple!]

Protest
over Bush NI visit Craigavon
Bridge in Londonderry has been blocked by about 150 people protesting
against the planned visit by George Bush to Northern Ireland.

Bomb
attack on Beirut McDonald's
A bomb has exploded in a McDonald's restaurant in Lebanon, wounding
at least three people. Beirut has seen almost daily anti-war demonstrations
and calls for boycotts of Amerikan products.

F.B.I.
Recruiting For Police Clergy-Liaison Program
In response to the Sept. 11 attacks [?!?], the F.B.I. and other
counterterrorism authorities have pursued a campaign to recruit Muslims
as informers. As part of this effort in New York, the agency recently
created a "citizen academy," where more than two dozen Muslim
clerics and business leaders completed a course of eight evening sessions
in January. Although they are not considered full-fledged informers,
they have helped the F.B.I. chase down "terrorist suspects"
by posting their pictures in mosques.
[This Bush dictatorship is beyond beyond: "...whenever any
Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles,
and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness." --Action of Second Continental
Congress, July 4, 1776 --The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United
States of America]

U.S.
SARS Quarantine Policy in Effect
Dictator Bush on Friday added it to the list of diseases for which health
authorities can hold Americans against their will. It's the first
time a new disease has been added to the list in two decades.

'Operation
Cancelled Election 2004 is in play...'
--by Rich Procter "Get ready for the wingnut Screech Monkeys to
put this in play, and play it for all its worth - 'We're at war! God
has chosen our President [sic] to lead us! To question him is to question
America itself! To suggest replacing him is treason! To mount a political
campaign against him is beyond the pale! These elections must be...(wait
for it...wait for it...) 'postponed indefinitely!!'"

***
The CLG believes in building mass actions as opposed to individual
acts of violence, but we thought our readers might enjoy these lyrics
about now: "If
I had a Rocket Launcher."***

Michael
Rectenwald responds to a CLG visitor who declares that CLG is
"in direct violation of the Congressional Sedition Act of 1918"
"Likewise, we are the real
patriots here. This country never called for blind obeisance to domination.
And for me and mine, it never will." --Michael Rectenwald

Frank
Luntz Pseudo Poll --by Lori Price "Ever get the feeling
that rightwing pollsters are rigging the playing field when asking their
vapid, fully 'loaded' questions to the American public? For example,
Republican pollster Frank Luntz's heinous and biased face is plastered
all over cable TV's punditry landscape, pushing W-ar
and Bush's dictatorship... Here is my version of a Frank Luntz poll,
employing Luntz's typical phraseology" --Lori Price

Bush
issues SARS executive order to arrest and quarantineDictator
Bush issued an executive order Friday allowing the forced
quarantine of people suspected of having SARS. The executive
order calls for the "apprehension, detention
or conditional release of individuals to prevent the introduction,
transmission or spread of suspected communicable diseases."

Bush
OKs quarantine for SARS --Dictator Bush signs
executive order allowing health officials to quarantine
people with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Dictator Bush issues executive order
adding SARS to list [?!?]
of communicable diseases for which a person can be quarantined.

Kerry
stands by 'regime change' barb at Bush
John Kerry, D-Mass., dismissed the criticism Thursday at a meet-the-candidates
dinner in Atlanta, saying, "I don't need any lessons in patriotism
or in caring for America from thelikes
of Tom DeLay." He rejected the criticism in stronger terms
on Friday. "If they want to pick a fight, they've picked a fight
with the wrong guy," he said. [Right on, Senator Kerry!!]

Kerry
Lashes Out at Republican Criticisms
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry lashed out at top congressional
Republicans on Friday after they assailed him for saying the United
States, like Iraq, needs a regime change."The Republicans have tried
to make a practice of attacking anybody who speaks out strongly by questioning
their patriotism," the Massachusetts senator said.

No
sign of Americans in Baghdad
There was no sign of a US military presence in Baghdad despite American
officials' claim that Anglo-American troops were in town to stay, AFP
correspondents reported.

No
US troops seen in Baghdad: Witness
No US troops were visible in a tour of central and southern Baghdad
on Saturday despite US reports that their forces had pushed into the
heart of the capital, a Reuters witness said.

US
jets on alert over Baghdad·
Tanks cross city limits · Mass grave found · Guard division HQ 'captured'
US attack jets were today put on 24-hour alert over Baghdad in preparation
for an assault on the Iraqi capital after Anglo-American tanks entered
the city earlier today.

Finding
President Hussein Not Needed for Victory Says US
The White House said yesterday it would consider military action in
Iraq a success [LOL!] even if US forces failed to find President Saddam
Hussein, whose appearance on Iraqi television could prove he survived
a US bombing raid on the first night of the war.

U.S.
Use of Tear Gas Could Violate Treaty, Critics Say
Dictator Bush has authorized American military forces to use tear gas
in Iraq, the Pentagon says, a development that some weapons experts
say other countries might see as a breach of the Chemical Weapons
Convention.

Red
Cross horrified by number of dead civilians
Red Cross doctors who visited southern Iraq this week saw "incredible"
levels of civilian casualties including a truckload of dismembered women
and children, a spokesman said Thursday from Baghdad.

US
uses cluster bombs to spread death and destruction in Iraq
"Weapons of mass destruction" have truly been unleashed in
Iraq: new-generation cluster munitions are being used by US and British
forces to massacre and terrorise the Iraqi population. Not
a single Iraqi bio-chemical weapon has been witnessed, but the "liberators"
have already resorted to weapons notorious for their vast and indiscriminate
destruction of human life.

Hoon
backs use of 'legitimate' cluster bombs
Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, yesterday defended the use of cluster
bombs in Iraq as human rights groups accused him of putting the lives
of hundreds of children at risk.

What
are cluster weapons? Cluster
weapons are packed with small bombs, or bomblets, known as submunitions,
designed specifically to cause the greatest possible number of human
casualties...

The
Saddest Story Of All An
old man cries over the coffin of his daughter..."Everyone said I have
a fabulous daughter. She spent all her time studying. Her head buried
in books. She didn't have a care about going out enjoying herself. My
other daughter is the same. She has a Master's degree in English and
teaches at the university. Me? I'm just a lorry driver. A simple man."

Al-Jazeera
ties halted Akamai Technologies
Inc., a Cambridge Internet company, said it has ended a brief business
relationship with Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news broadcaster. Qatar-based
Al-Jazeera said it thought Akamai was succumbing to political pressure
not to help the channel, which has been criticized for alleged anti-American
bias.

Anti-war
marchers to confront Bush
Anti-War protesters from all over Ireland are expected to gather at
Hillsborough on Monday evening to bring their message of peace directly
to Dictator George Bush.

Massive
Protest Against War Tens
of thousands of Pakistanis, most of them supporters of religious parties,
rallied in the central city of Multan yesterday to protest the US-led
war on Iraq.

Anonymous
caller threatens to shoot protesters
City, campus police warn students, public (WA) Bellingham police issued
a public alert this morning because a man telephoned police and The
Bellingham Herald threatening to shoot people at an anti-war rally and
march planned for noon Friday at Western Washington University.

Natick
Labs protesters reject deal, will go to court
(MA) The self-titled "Peace Chain 18" will have their day in court after
they rejected a plan yesterday. Prosecutor Mark Youngblood said if the
defendants agreed to admit to trespassing, a guilty charge would be
entered and, as a group,they would have to pay $10,000 for thepolice overtimeof that day. Carole Bull said they would
admit to the facts if they could pay the $10,000 toIraqi victims
of U.S. bombings.

Rockers
Proud to Bash Bush Pearl
Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder won't apologize for his Dictator Bush-bashing
stage antics and downplaying the reaction of patriotic fans who walked
out in disgust. At a concert Tuesday in Denver, Vedder impaled a
mask of Bush on a microphone stand and then slammed it to the stage
and stomped on it.

FBI
Pulls Open Net For Wiretapping
Wiretapping takes on a whole new meaning now that phone calls are being
made over the Internet, posing legal and technical hurdles for the FBI.
The FBI wants regulators to affirm that such services fall under a 1994
law requiring phone companies to build in surveillance capabilities.

Jobs
Show Worse-Than-Expected Drop
The U.S. economy suffered a worse-than-expected 108,000 decline in payrolls
in March as the start of the war with Iraq and profit uncertainties
took a toll on hiring.

Gun,
Germs and Stall? --by Paul
Krugman "The war has monopolized everyone's attention, including
mine. But other things are happening, and you shouldn't be shocked if
the economic news turns awful."

Mega barf alert:The
Presidential Prayer Team Tour "Each golf event will feature
a $1 Million Hole-in-One Contest, along with other prizes (See Prizes
for fund-raising). It includes lunch with some of the influential leaders
and Honorary Committee Members of The Presidential Prayer Team. All
golf and prayer walk participants receive a wide array of gifts (See
Gifts)."

Prosecutors
look into $17 million minority vote-machine contracts
(FL) The Broward State Attorney's Office has subpoenaed more than 1,000
pages of documents involving contracts awarded to minority firms as
part of the county's controversial purchase of new touch-screen voting
machines more than a year ago. Prosecutors also have questioned three
county employees and re-interviewed a county commissioner in their widening
investigation into the $17.2 million deal for Election Systems and
Software's voting machines.

Smoking
gun still a phantom Bush
regime officials have scaled back their talk about weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq partly because they are still missing the "smoking gun" that
prompted the invasion in the first place.

International
Court Could Try Iraq War Crimes
The International Criminal Court could prosecute crimes against humanity
committed in the United States-led war on Iraq, despite the fact
that neither the United States nor Iraq form part of the new court,
said Costa Rican Judge Elizabeth Odio.

'Butterfly'
bomblets rip into Iraqi children
--by Robert Fisk "The wounds are vicious and deep, a rash of scarlet
spots on the back and thighs or face, the shards of shrapnel from
the cluster bombs buried in the flesh. The wards of the Hillah
teaching hospital are proof that something illegal - something
quite outside the Geneva Conventions - occurred in the villages
around the city once known as Babylon.

US
forces use schools for cover
United States special forces have taken up strategic positions in
three secondary schools located in a densely populated residential
area of a city in northern Iraq.

U.S.
morons making rations, bomblets same color The U.N. children's
agency UNICEF warned Wednesday that bright yellow-wrapped US-UK invaders'
Humanitarian Daily Rations hand-distributed in Iraq are the same
color as air-dropped unexploded bomblets. [Lunacy redux, as this
tactic was previously used by the Amerikan Fascists in Afghanistan.
--Lori Price]

Iraqi
Capital Loses Power, Running Water
U.S. armored units backed by warplanes fought building by building to
clear Iraqi forces from Baghdad's airport Friday, while civilians
inside the city lost electricity and running water and wondered if a
siege was imminent.

Developments
in Iraq's Oil Fields Firefighters
prepared Friday to attack two remaining well fires in the southern Iraqi
oil field of Rumeila South. Teams from Boots & Coots International Well
Control and the Kuwait Oil Co. failed to put out the blazes earlier
this week because their mobile water tanks were too small... [Oh.
I thought this was not a W-ar for oil?
--Lori Price]

Powell
rules out UN lead role in rebuilding of Iraq
Colin Powell yesterday swept aside demands from European leaders for
United Nations primacy in Iraq's post-war settlement, insisting that
Britain and America had earned the right to set policy by "sacrificing
blood" [Yeah, the blood of innocent Iraqis].

Spanish
PM faces legal action for supporting Iraq war
A broad coalition of anti-war activists, militant lawyers and judges
on Wednesday took legal action against Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria
Aznar, charging that his support for the US-led war on Iraq is illegal.

Evidence
Against Syria Is Questioned
The CIA has no credible evidence that the government of Syria has had
a role in the shipment of night-vision goggles and other military equipment
to Iraq, according to an regime official familiar with U.S. intelligence
in the region.

US
military admits 'suspicious' powder is explosive
American officials have admitted that the thousands of boxes of white
powder they seized north of Baghdad are explosives. The US military
and various media outlets had suggested that they may have made the
first discovery of chemical weapons in Iraq. [ROFL! How will
the Pentagon spin *this* one?]

U.S.
Maneuvers to Avoid Debt CeilingTreasury
Department debt managers intend to soon carry out an accounting maneuver
that would free billions of dollars on paper to prevent the government
from breaching the $6.4 trillion ceiling
on the national debt.

Cowardly Bush Afraid
of Four-Year-Olds:White
House Closes Annual Easter Egg Roll --The annual Easter Egg
roll at the White House will be closed to the public this year and replaced
with a smaller event for the children of troops involved in the U.S.-led
war on Iraq. "It's reduced as a result
of the security situation,'' White House press secretary
Ari Fleischer said.

Al
Gore: I would Never Start This War
I would never start this war if I were President [sic!], President Al
Gore said via videoconferencing at the Economist Conference "Seventh
Roundtable with the Government of Greece", which takes place April 2-4
in Athens. Al Gore, whose participation in the conference has been
prevented by secret services ban on travelling, underlined that he would
have tried to deal with Saddam Hussein with all other means available.

Al-Jazeera
journalist held at Guantanamo
Reporters Without Borders urge the US to break its silence --Reporters
Without Borders called on US officials to urgently say why they are
still holding Sami al-Haj, an assistant cameraman of the Qatar-based
TV station Al-Jazeera, at the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, nine
months after his arrest.

Independents
'frozen out' by armed forces
The British and US forces have created a "caste
system" of journalists, giving preference to those that accompany
troops and freezing out correspondents operating independently,
the European Broadcasting Union has claimed.

Try
Arnett for treason, senator says
Correspondent Peter Arnett should be "tried
as a traitor" for remarks he made in an interview with Iraqi
state television, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Psycho-Ky., said Tuesday.[I think Bush and his W-ar
cabinet need to be tried for treason. --Lori Price]

Outspoken
British lawmaker draws cries of treason
To Britain's tabloid press he's "Saddam's Stooge" and the member of
parliament "for Baghdad Central." To the government, he's a nuisance
- and to the opposition, all but a traitor.
[The "T" word is starting to populate the US-UK landscape,
used against those who oppose the Bush-Blair W-ar
of imperialist aggression. The actual traitors are the members of the
Bush-Blair W-ar cabinet and those in the
Whore High Court that installed George W. Bush as pResident. --Lori
Price]

Arnett
Back on the Air From Baghdad
Within days of being fired by the U.S. network NBC, Arnett found an
unlikely new audience Thursday: the Dutch-speaking — and hopefully English-comprehending
— citizens of northern Belgium. "Thanks Peter Arnett, we are proud
to have you on our team," said VTM news anchor Dany Verstraeten
after Arnett finished his first report for the private Belgian TV network.

Family
of POW: She Wasn't Shot, Stabbed
The father of rescued POW Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch said Thursday she
was in great spirits following her first surgery and said doctors told
him she had not been shot or stabbed during her ordeal.

U.S.
Forces Seize Parts of Baghdad's Main Airport
United States armed forces rolled out of the desert to the western outskirts
of Baghdad today. The thud of artillery marked the arrival near the
city of the first foreign army since British forces occupied Iraq in
1941. Allied forces entered Saddam International Airport, 10 miles from
the center of the city.

Al-Jazeera's
Basra hotel bombed A hotel
in Basra being used as a base by al-Jazeera's team of correspondents
in the city was shelled this morning, the Arabic TV news channel has
claimed.

Witnesses:
Dozens Killed in Hit Near Baghdad
Dozens of Iraqis, including civilians and soldiers, were killed
in the village of Furat near Baghdad airport on Thursday evening in
what witnesses said was a U.S. rocket strike, a Reuters reporter
said.

Anti-War
Activists Join King Jr.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) March Marchers remembering the assassination of the
Rev. Martin Luther King 35 years ago were joined Friday by anti-war
demonstrators. Several hundred people marched more than a mile to Mason
Temple, a church where King gave his "I have been to the mountaintop''
speech the night before he was killed.

1,700
GIs to combat Filipino rebels
U.S. takes fight "against"
terrorism to Southeast Asia --The United States will send more than
1,700 troops to the Philippines in the next few weeks to fight Muslim
extremists in the southern part of the country, opening a new front
in the fight against terrorism, Pentagon officials said Thursday. [Gee,
two Vietnams at once... keep movin' that debt ceiling threshold, LOL!
--Lori Price]

Arab-American
engineer held without charges
Intel engineer held 2 weeks in solitary without charges An
Arab-American software engineer at Intel Corp. has been seized by FBI
agents and jailed in solitary confinement for two weeks without charges,
friends say. "They haven't even questioned him once in the entire
two weeks," said Steven McGeady, a former Intel executive who was
Maher Hawash's boss.["...whenever
any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles,
and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness." --Action of Second Continental
Congress, July 4, 1776 --The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United
States of America]

States
put a leash on informationNearly
half the states are closing meetings, sealing records and restricting
the flow of information to the public, all in the name of homeland
suckyourity.

ACLU
urges recall of religious AIDS pamphlet
The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Department of Health Thursday
to remove some AIDS education brochures from circulation because they
are full of Biblical messages.

GOP
Trying to Eliminate Overtime The nation's overtime pay law took
another hit today as a House panel approved legislation that would let
employers offer paid time off instead. Business groups, emboldened
by complete Republican control of Congressa and federal executive branch,
are pressing the Bush dictatorship to rewrite
the labor law requiring employers to pay an hourly rate of time-and-a-half
to some workers logging more than 40 hours a week.

The
poetry of D. H. Rumsfeld
(Satire) Dubious verse by the secretary of defense --Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld is an accomplished man. Not only is he guiding the war
in Iraq, he has been a pilot, a congressman, an ambassador, a businessman,
and a civil servant. But few Americans know that he is also a poet.

Deal
to sell water all wet, critics charge
UMM QASR, Iraq - The U.S. military came up with a solution yesterday
for the penniless people of this port town begging
for water:Sell it. [The
crux of "Operation Iraqi Freedom", LOL if it wasn't so pathetic.
One can see why Le Monde polls have a full one third of the population
hoping for an Iraqi victory. --Lori Price]

Bush
approves use of tear gas in battlefield
Weapons experts fear violation of law --Dictator George W. Bush has
authorized American military forces to use tear gas in Iraq, the Pentagon
says, a development that some weapons experts said could set up a
conflict between American and international law.

Anger
as US forces take over schools
United States Special Forces have taken up positions in three secondary
schools in a densely populated residential area of a northern Iraq city
- seemingly in breach of US policy.

Bombs
Fall On Babylon They lie in packed wards, eight to each airless
room. Many are crying. Others softly moaning. Some stare, as if lifeless.
These are the survivors of what are claimed to be cluster
bomb attacks on villages in Babylon and its capital Al Hillah,
some 70 miles south of Baghdad.

Kerry
says US needs its own 'regime change'
Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that Dictator Bush committed a
''breach of trust'' in the eyes of many United Nations members
by going to war with Iraq, creating a diplomatic chasm that will not
be bridged as long as Bush remains in office.

Jordan's
king says war is 'invasion'
Jordan's King Abdullah II Wednesday described the U.S.-led war on Iraq
as an "invasion" and the Iraqis killed by coalition forces as "martyrs."

Rep.
Conyers Seeks Disclosures of Pentagon Advisers
A top congressional Democrat asked on Tuesday to see the financial disclosure
forms of the 30 members of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and records
from past meetings of the panel that advises the U.S. military.

Rumsfeld
'resisting' Powell's Iraq team
A US official told The Times that Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence
Secretary, was resisting State Department appointments to the administration-in-waiting,
at least one of whom is already in Kuwait.

EU:
No role in post-war Iraq without U.N.
The European Union will play no major role in the post-war reconstruction
of Iraq without a new U.N. resolution, the EU presidency Thursday told
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

U.S.
troops drive within sight of Baghdad
U.S. forces fought to within sight of the Baghdad skyline 20 miles
away Wednesday, seizing key bridges and shattering two divisions
of the Iraqi Republican Guard as they thrust north from two directions
- the Army from the southwest, Marines from the southeast.

Witnesses
say U.S. tank fired at them without warning, causing deaths and injuries
in Hillah Bassem Hawky
lost his right arm when, he says, a U.S. tank fired on a bus that he
and his family were riding in. But he worries more for his 10-year-old
son, who lost both arms and is now fighting for his life. "We saw a
column of U.S. tanks and when we got close to a the first tank, which
flew the American flag, it fired on us without any warning,"
he said, speaking at the Hillah Hospital where his son is in the intensive
care unit. "That Bush has no mercy, faith,
or humanity," Hawky said.

Turkey
lets US supplies move but bars troops
Just hours after Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, met his Turkish
counterpart yesterday the Americans began moving more than 200 military
vehicles from Turkey into northern Iraq.

Iraq
Vote Relieves S.Korea's Roh, Angers Protesters
South Korea's president thanked parliament on Thursday for agreeing
to send troops to Iraq, but the country's most militant union vowed
bigger protests and two groups sought to have the deployment declared
unconstitutional.

Heavy
U.S. Air Strikes Pound Taliban Positions
U.S. warplanes have launched heavy air strikes in support of hundreds
of Afghan militiamen battling Taliban fighters in the southwest of the
country, Afghan and U.S. officials said on Thursday. [Looks like
the Idiot Usurper is trying to wage a W-ar
on two fronts, and you know how *that* typically concludes, <g>.
--Lori Price]

Washington’s
quiet war in Colombia3
more U.S. contractors die in operations vs. drugs, rebels --While
world attention is focused on the conflict in Iraq, the United States
is also deeply, and quietly, involved in a battle in the jungles of
Colombia. In that conflict, Washington employs a small
army of private contractors who assist Colombia’s government
in its fight with leftist rebels and drug lords.

Arafat
plays key role in release of Newsday men in Iraq
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was instrumental in gaining
the release of two Newsday reporters covering the war in Iraq and jailed
there for eight days without trace. According to the editor of Newsday,
Arafat played a pivotal role in locating and winning the release of
the two men.

Al-Jazeera
Site Among Most Sought-After
In spite of being mostly knocked offline, the Web site of Arab satellite
news network Al-Jazeera was among the most sought-after on the Internet
last week.

Kuwaitis
Say They Confessed Under Duress
Two Kuwaiti Muslims, accused of providing weapons to a man who allegedly
killed an American contractor and wounded another in January, told a
court Wednesday they confessed under duress.

KGB
Russian Head-Hired by Homeland Security
The former head of the KGB (the secret police of the former Soviet Union),
General Yevgeni Primakov, has been hired as a consultant by the US Department
of Homeland Suckyourity. Do you think he will share his expertise in
"security" to prepare US citizens for domestic internal passports under
the pretense of fighting the never-ending "War on Terrorism"?

HEAVE
the media Humans Everywhere
Against Violence Eternally (HEAVE) unexpectedly struck at the New York
Faux News headquarters and CNN on Tuesday, April 1, 2003. A group of
12 snacked on homemade blueberry, cherry and apple pies before they
emptied their stomachs on the sidewalk of Rupert Murdoch's Faux News
Corp at 48th and 6th ave. and CNN at 49th. Tuesday's campaign was
entitled "Operation G.I. Tract Freedom".
[Mega barf alert for Faux and CensoringNewsNetwork!]

Tax
Evasion Is Charged in U.S. Inquiry Into Oil Deals
A former senior executive of the Mobil Oil Corporation was charged yesterday
with evading taxes on a $2 million kickback as prosecutors broadened
accusations of corruption involving American executives and Kazakhstan
officials over oil deals.

Deadly
virus effortlessly hops species
A single genetic change could have created the deadly virus that has
killed over 50 people and infected more than 1,600, a new study suggests.
The result strengthens the idea that the SARS coronavirus might have
arisen when an animal and human virus met and swapped
genes, says the study's lead scientist, Peter Rottier of
Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Bush,
Blair banned entry to Church of Nativity
The Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of
Jesus Christ, has barred US Dictator George Bush and British Prime Minister
Poodle Tony Blair from ever entering the shrine.

No
'Smoking Gun' Hit on Ansar
al-Islam Camp Finds No Signs of Chemical Weapons
--U.S. Special Forces troops went on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction
in northeastern Iraq today but came up empty handed. [That's OK.
The CIA has *plenty* of time to plant some with some loyal "embeds"
like Bob Arnot looking on, or just dig up the WMDs Rumsfeld sold to
Iraq in the late 1980's. --Lori Price]

Democrat
Calls for End to War in Speech
Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich took his anti-war
campaign to the House floor Tuesday, calling for an end to the fighting
in Iraq to allow weapons inspectors to return.

One
in three French wants President Hussein to win
A poll in Le Monde showed that only a third of the French felt that
they were on the same side as the Americans and British, and that another
third desired outright Iraqi victory over "les anglo-saxons".

US
Commander Refers to Fleeing Iraqis As 'Cockroaches'
The battle at Diwaniya ...A .50-caliber machine gun atop a tank rakes
the Iraqis, killing several and sending more fleeing into the surrounding
countryside. "It was like turning a light on and watching the cockroaches
scurrying," remarks Lt. Col. B.P. McCoy, the battalion commander.
The column continues past mud huts and small farms.

US
planes shot peaceniks: Iraq
US warplanes attacked two buses bringing American and European peace
activists to Baghdad from neighbouring Jordan, Iraq said on Tuesday.

U.S.
strikes hit Baghdad maternity hospital
U.S. aircraft have hit a Red Crescent maternity hospital in Baghdad,
killing several people and wounding at least 25, hospital sources and
a Reuters witness say. ["Operation Iraqi Freedom" is actually
"Operation Illegal Immoral Bloodbath". Bush is an international
war criminal --Lori Price]

'Dozens'
of bodies seen after helicopter attack: Red Cross
Red Cross workers saw the bodies of dozens of people — including women
and children — at a town south of Baghdad where Iraqi officials claim
U.S. helicopters attacked a residential neighbourhood, the International
Red Cross reported today.

Children
killed in US assault Dozens
of Iraqi villagers were killed and injured in a ferocious American
air and land assault near the Iraqi city of Babylon, hospital officials
in the town said yesterday.

You
just killed a family, the officer yelled
Amerika yesterday stood by the actions of soldiers who shot dead at
least seven Iraqi women and children when their vehicle failed to stop
at a checkpoint. A Washington Post reporter at the scene disputed the
official death total, saying 10 people had been killed, including five
children. He also said the American officer in charge of the checkpoint
had accused his men of failing to fire warning shots early enough.

US
Marines turn fire on civilians at the bridge of death
--by Mark Franchetti, Nasiriya "Amid the wreckage I counted 12
dead civilians, lying in the road or in nearby ditches. All had been
trying to leave this southern town overnight, probably for fear of being
killed by US helicopter attacks and heavy artillery."

Iraqis
Delirious with Grief After Missile Attack
Almost every house in Baghdad's poor al-Shula neighborhood had a horror
story to tell on Saturday after death rained from the night sky... People
described horror scenes of dismembered bodies littering the streets.
Survivors said most of those killed were so poor they had risked their
lives to use a lull in the U.S.-British strikes to set up their stalls
to try to make a living.

Stocks
Soar on Military Advance [Sickko US Culture:While maternity hospitals in Iraq are bombed, it's good to know
the NASDAQ has recouped.] Stocks
sprinted higher in early morning on Wednesday as U.S.-led forces thrust
toward Baghdad.

American
Forces Drive Toward Iraqi Capital2nd
Iraqi Division Has Taken a Severe Mauling, Pentagon Says --American
forces, which crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi
capital, destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard,
the United States Central Command here said today.

Big
push for Baghdad begins
American troops were engaged in a major battle with Saddam Hussein's
Republican Guard early today as the Anglo-American advance towards Baghdad
was resumed.

Battle
For Baghdad Imminent Troops
cross red line around Saddam fortress --The defining land battle of
Gulf War Two was said to be "imminent" last night as ground forces moved
on Baghdad.

Baghdad
will be near impossible to conquer
--by Simon Jenkins "An astonishing event is about to happen. For
the first time in modern history a city with the population of London
is preparing to resist assault from a land army. The outcome of such
a struggle is wholly imponderable. Cities hate soldiers... In Baghdad
the coalition forces confront a city apparently determined on resistance.
They should remember Napoleon in Moscow, Hitler in Stalingrad, the Americans
in Mogadishu and the Russians at Grozny.

Iraq
Is Planning Protracted War
The Iraqi defense minister suggested tonight that Iraq was now pursuing
a protracted war with stepped-up guerrilla tactics that would carry
into the summer, when soaring temperatures would sap the American will
to fight.

Syria,
Iran not potential coalition targets: Britain
Foreign secretary downplays fears of widening war --Britain would
not join in any military action against Iran or Syria, and does
not believe the United States has any intention to do so after the war
in Iraq, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today.

U.S.
Military Detains, Beats and Threatens to Kill Four Foreign Journalists
in Iraq A Democracy Now!
interview with Israeli reporter "Amy Goodman: The international
press watch group Reporters Without Borders has accused the US and British
coalition forces in Iraq of displaying contempt for journalists covering
the conflict who are not embedded with troops. The criticism comes
after a group of four 'unilateral' or roving reporters revealed how
they were arrested by US military police
as they slept near a US unit a hundred miles south of Baghdad and were
held overnight.They described their ordeal as the worst 48
hours of their lives. ...US military police
seized the journalists outside their base, detained them even
though they were carrying international press cards."

Halliburton
Wants Secondary Contractor Role in IraqVice pResident Dick Cheney's
former company has decided not to enter a controversial bidding process
open only to a few experienced and well-connected firms for major Iraq
reconstruction projects. Instead, Halliburton Co. will focus on becoming
asecondary contractor. Officials
of the Houston-based company would not say whether the decision was
related to questions of favoritism and cronyism concerning the firm.

The
War's Dirty Secret: It's About Changing United States, Not Iraq
--by Steve Lopez "The effort to turn Iraq into a democracy,
in other words, is making the U.S. less of one. Our
opposition party has disappeared, corporate interests dictate public
policy, and the feds may be rummaging through your e-mail. There's
a dirty secret no one has told you, and here it is: This war is not
about changing Iraq, it's about changing America." [a must read]

Iraq
War Lingo 101 Confused
by the military terminology, slogans, acronyms, jargon being used in
reporting on the 'war' against Iraq? Help is at hand. "Operation
Iraqi Liberation: alternative name of US military action, but dropped
from consideration because of obvious implication of acronym (OIL)"

Italian
Anti-war Protesters Torch Ford Cars
In another day of global anti-war demonstrations, Italian protesters
torched around a dozen Ford cars at a showroom in western Rome to voice
opposition to the U.S.-led war against Iraq, Italian police reported
Friday, March 28. A banner declaring "Sabotage the Imperialist War"
was left at the scene of the fire.

US
nuns say they wanted to protect Iraqi children
Three Catholic nuns wanted to protect the children of Iraq with a "symbolic
disarmament" when they trespassed on a missile silo in northern Colorado
last year, one of the sisters told a court on Tuesday. If convicted,
the women face a prison sentence of up to 30 years and fines of up
to $250,000.

Teachers
placed on leave over war postersTwo
high school teachers said Tuesday they have been placed on leave for
refusing to remove pro and anti war-related student artwork posted in
their classrooms. One of the anti-war signs in question was written
by an Afghani student who has had family members killed in U.S.-led
bombings in Afghanistan.

A
Red-Blue Terror Alert --by
Paul Krugman "...less than 48 hours after the atrocity [9-11 terrorist
attacks], Congressional Republicans tried to exploit the event to pass
a cut in the capital gains tax... Even in the first months after Sept.
11, Republican lawmakers made it clear that they would not support any
major effort to rebuild or even secure New York."

Citizen's
rights trampled by FBI
--by Steven McGeady (Letter to The Oregonian) "I was shocked to
read that Maher Mofied 'Mike' Hawash... was 'detained' by the FBI and
the Joint Terrorism Task Force, apparently because of donations he made
more than three years ago... I think many of your readers would be surprised
to learn that our government can detain indefinitely a U.S. citizen,
especially one with a wife, three children, a job and deep roots in
our community. 'Material witnesses' such as Hawash are being held
in maximum-security federal prisons, despite the fact that they are
charged with no crime."

Wait until AshKKKroft
learns of this one:Hong
Kong sends SARS victims to quarantine camps --Hong Kong invoked
a colonial-era law Tuesday to quarantine
more than 240 people in "countryside vacation camps"[?!? Yeah, right!], part of redoubled efforts to halt the spread
of a mysterious flu-like illness that has killed at least 64 people
around the world.

SARS
scare forces quarantine of jet in California
An American Airlines flight from Tokyo was quarantined on the tarmac
at San Jose's airport Tuesday after four people on board complained
of symptoms like those reported from the mysterious new illness spreading
through Asia, airline and city health officials said.*update:False
SARS alarm aboard U.S.-bound jet (April 2) Fears that the fast-moving
respiratory ailment known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS,
had broken out aboard an American Airlines flight from Tokyo were found
to have been a false alarm Tuesday, but not before the aircraft and
its passengers were detained for more than two hours in a safe corner
of the San Jose airport.

Texas
Court Acts to Clear 38, Almost All Black, in Drug Case
Conceding that they had made a catastrophic mistake in relying
solely on the uncorroborated testimony of an undercover officer, prosecutors
moved today to overturn the convictions of 38 people, almost all of
them black, who were caught in a series of drug arrests in 1999 that
tore this town apart.

Politician
Urges Bush War Crimes TrialThe United Nations must try Dictator Bush and his allies as war criminals,
a top Indonesian politician demanded Monday as protesters elsewhere
denounced the war in Iraq as illegal and voiced concern for its victims.

Rumsfeld
denies U.S. in talks to end war
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld denied on Tuesday that the United
States is negotiating an end to war with Iraq. "The only thing the coalition
will discuss with this regime is their unconditional surrender," he
said.

Rumsfeld's
advisors are Pentagon contractorsMembers of a panel that advises Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
work for companies that do business with the Pentagon,
including World Airways Inc, which flies troops to the Persian Gulf,
and Alliant Techsystems Inc, the biggest maker of ammunition for US
forces.[Holy conflict of interest,
Batman! It is time for the Bush coup and all of its manifestations,
to exit... stage left. --Lori Price]

US
draws up secret plan to impose new regime on IraqA
disagreement has broken out at a senior level within the Bush dictatorship
over a new government that the US is secretly
planning in Kuwait to rule Iraq in the immediate period after
the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Under the plan, the government will
consist of 23 ministries, each headed by an American.

It
will end in disaster The
US and British governments have dragged us into a mess that will
last for years --by George Monbiot "...while no one can now
ignore the immediate problems this illegal war has met, we are beginning,
too, to understand what should have been obvious all along: that, however
this conflict is resolved, the outcome will be a disaster."

Non-Combat
Losses Break Records (Pravda)
"The battle in Iraq continues, and to all appearances, it’s going
to be even more severe, which in its turn will entail more losses on
both parties of the conflict. But as it’s stipulated by the realities
of a propaganda war, neither Iraq nor the US/UK coalition command will
report the exact figure of losses. Especially because the allied
troops are already in a great mess they have made themselves."

U.S.
kills scores of Iraqis near Baghdad
U.S. Marines waged a firefight with Iraqi forces Tuesday in and around
the town of Diwaniyah, killing up to 90 Iraqis and taking at least 20
prisoners, according to reports from the field.

Battle
for Baghdad looms; Saddam calls for holy war, Iraq says
U.S-led forces battled and bombed Iraqi troops across a large arc
south of Baghdad on Tuesday in anticipation of a move against the capital.
A Saudi suggestion that Saddam Hussein step down got a pungent reply
from Iraq's vice president: "Go to hell."
[Shocking and Awesome!]

Raytheon
Cruise Missile Killed 60 in Baghdad Market on Friday
It has emerged the explosion in a Baghdad market which killed more than
60 people last Friday was indeed caused by a cruise missile and not
an Iraqi anti-aircraft rocket as the US has suggested. A metal fragment
found at the scene by British journalist Robert Fisk carried various
markings, including "MFR 96214 09". This is a manufacturer's identification
number known as a "cage code". Cage codes can be researched (www.gidm.dlis.dla.mil),
and keying in the number 96214 traces the fragment back to a plant
in McKinney, Texas, owned by the Raytheon Company.

Bush,
Blair Excommunicated: Church Of The Nativity
Spokesman of the Orthodox Church in the Holy Lands, archimandrite Attallah
Hanna declared that U.S. Dictator George Bush, his Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, British Premier Poodle Tony Blair, his Foreign Minister
Jack Straw have all been deprived from visiting the Church of Nativity
in Bethlehem. "...leaders of the invading states did not
listen to the church, and hence, we deem them
excommunicates and perverted," Hanna stated.

Anger
at 'Guantanamo prisoners plan'
Reports that Iraqi paramilitaries may be taken to the American prison
[concentration] camp in Guantanamo Bay as "illegal combatants" angered
human rights groups today.

Victim's
Dad Hits at Bush The father
of a US marine yesterday blamed George Bush for his son's death.
Fernando Suarez de Solar said US officials had refused to give his family
any details on how 20-year-old Lance Corporal Jesus died other than
it was at Nassiriya. He said: "President [sic] Bush hasn't shown
that this war is necessary. He has shown that this war is for the US
to have the oil."

Terror
tactics blamed for checkpoint deaths
Allied commanders blamed Iraq's "tactics of
terrorism" after US troops opened fire on two civilian
cars approaching checkpoints, killing at least eight civilians,
including women and children.

'You
didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!'
A journalist's account of the killing of a car full of Iraqi civilians
by US soldiers differs widely from the official
military version A US military spokesman says the soldiers
motioned the vehicle to stop but their signals were ignored. However,
according to the Washington Post, Captain Ronny Johnson, who was in
charge of the checkpoint, blamed his own troops for ignoring orders
to fire a warning shot. "You just [expletive] killed a family because
you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!", he reportedly yelled
at them. In another checkpoint incident this morning, US forces say
they killed an unarmed Iraqi driver outside Shatra.

7
Women and Children Killed by US TroopsAn investigation was launched tonight after US
troops opened fire on a van carrying 13 Iraqi women and children,
killing seven and wounding two others. [Well, the Bush Nazi dictatorship
is showing its true colors. --Lori Price]

MP
urges troops to disobey orders
Antiwar Labour MP George Galloway has defended an interview in which
he branded Tony Blair and George Bush as "wolves" for committing
the "crime" of military action against Iraq. Mr Galloway is standing
by his comments, arguing that the war is illegal - and urged British
soldiers to refuse to obey "illegal orders."

Pentagon
seeks to remove Rivera from Iraq
The Pentagon said Tuesday it is asking Faux News Channel to remove Geraldo
Rivera from a posting with U.S. troops in Iraq where he was accused
of "disclosing unauthorized information". [Yeah, right.
The lying maggots at the Pentagon don't want the truth told about the
immoral and illegal Amerikan police massacre in Iraq. --Lori Price]

Home
of the Free: Arnett Joins Mirror
Veteran newsman Peter Arnett sacked by Amerikan TV for telling the
truth about the war is joining the Daily Mirror. He joins the Mirror
on the day it was revealed that 8,700 bombshave rained down on Iraq in 12 days, including 3,000
missilesover the weekend.

Britain's
Mirror Hires Fired Veteran Arnett
Britain's Daily Mirror said on Tuesday it had hired veteran U.S reporter
Peter Arnett, sacked by American TV network NBC after he told Iraqi
television the U.S. war plan against Saddam Hussein had failed.

Pentagon
Threatens to Fire on Independent Reporters in Iraq(March 10, 2003)
The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite
uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according
to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish
radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such
potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who
cares.. ..They've been warned."

This
War is Not Working --by
Peter Arnett "I am still in shock and awe at being fired.
There is enormous sensitivity within the US government to reports coming
out from Baghdad. They don't want credible news organisations reporting
from here because it presents them with enormous problems."

War
Puts Radio Giant on the Defensive
Clear Channel finds itself fending off a new set of accusations: that
the company is using its considerable market power to drum up support
for the war in Iraq, while muzzling musicians
who oppose it. Thirteen "Rally for America!" events held
through last Friday were co-sponsored and promoted by local Clear
Channel stations.

Madonna
Pulls New Shock Video; Grenade Thrown at Bush
AOLTIMEWARNER recording mogul Madonna late Monday shelved her shock
video American Life -- a short which depicted American soldiers
dressed as transvestites in a fashion show along with a scene of the
star throwing a grenade at a Dictator Bush
look-alike. "The video may still get aired this week throughout Europe,"
a WARNER BROS. source said late Monday.

Indonesia
considers switch from dollar to euro
Echoing a wider move away from the US dollar, the Indonesian government
and the central bank, Bank Indonesia, may begin to use the euro in export-import
transactions and foreign-exchange reserves.

Foley
Constitutional Amendment Changes U.S. Citizenship Requirements'America must stop giving away citizenship
like free AOL hours.' (From the Office of Representative Mark Foley
Florida, 16th District) Congressman Mark Foley (R-Maggot-Insane-FL)
today re-introduced his amendment to the United States Constitution
that would change U.S. citizenship requirements to "protect Americans
from future acts of terror." [and further the objectives of
the Bush Nazi police state].

Pennsylvania
Guard Troops on Patrol in Wyoming Valley
Pennsylvania National Guard troops were on patrol in Wilkes Barre Sunday,
conducting "presence patrols" [?!?].
The patrols are part of a Homeland Suckyourity order to all armories
in Pennsylvania to keep an eye on area buildings. [The United States
is getting more like Nazi Germany every day... and you *know* what happens
to empires that overextend themselves, such as Bush's Amerika, <g>.
--Lori Price]

Using
firewalls is about to become illegal
Use a Firewall, Go to Jail --The
states of Massachusetts and Texas (and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia,
Alaska, Tennessee, and Colorado) are preparing to consider bills that
apparently are intended to extend the national Digital Millennium Copyright
Act. The MA and TX bills would flatly ban the possession, sale, or use
of technologies that "conceal from a communication service provider
...the existence or place of origin or destination of any communication".

March
30 Anti-W-ar Rally Pittsburgh Speech
--by Michael Rectenwald "A US arms trader,
Jay Garner, will run Iraq after the invasion is complete and the occupation
underway. But, we are told, this war is not about "bidness." It's about
Liberation. We think it is about Liquidation! The nakedness of the
power grab is indeed an extension of the naked grab for power that has
characterized the Bush regime since the original coup in 2000."
--Michael Rectenwald***Listen
to the speech here!
***

UN
urged to hold a General Assembly meeting on Iraq
The whole world was vociferous in opposition to war, but no action was
taken to stop it, despite attempts by some nations to obtain a resolution
from the UN General Assembly on the illegality of the US-led attack
against Iraq. Meanwhile, the US is doing its utmost to block a General
Assembly meeting.

Journalists
lose Baghdad jobs Two well-known
American reporters — Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera — took direct hits
in the war with Iraq Monday, losing their berths covering the ongoing
conflict.

Peter
Arnett: U.S. war plan has 'failed'--The
U.S. war plan has "failed," veteran
war correspondent Peter Arnett told Iraqi TV in an interview that aired
Sunday. "The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance.
Now they are trying to write another war plan,"
Arnett said. "Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination
of the Iraqi forces."

NBC
Fires Peter Arnett Over Iraqi TV Interview
American television network NBC said on Monday it had severed its relations
with veteran reporter Peter Arnett after he told Iraqi television that
the U.S. war plan against Saddam Hussein had failed.
[A journalist is fired for telling the truth.]

NBC
fires Peter Arnett after interview on Iraqi TV
NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett today, saying it was wrong for him
to give an interview with state-run Iraqi TV in which he said the American-led
coalition's initial plan for the war had failed because of Iraq's
resistance. Arnett called the interview a "misjudgment"
and apologized.

NBC has fired journalist
Peter Arnett after the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter told Iraqi TV
that the US-led coalition's initial plan for the war had failed because
of Iraq's resistance. Do you think his comments were inappropriate?
Actual Startribune poll, removed by 13:15 EST: "NBC has fired
journalist Peter Arnett, saying it was wrong for him to give an interview
with state-run Iraqi TV in which he said the American-led coalition's
initial plan for the war had failed because of Iraq's resistance. What
do you think? What should be done with Arnett now? Firing him is
enough;Turn him over to U.S. authorities;
Turn him over to Iraqi authorities; Try him
in a U.S. military court; Keep him in the field, reporting
the story [Ok, let us now strip all pretenses. The United States
has become a Fascist police state, and we are under control of a Nazi
regime. --Lori Price]

Knives
come out for Rumsfeld [?!? LOL!] as the generals fight back
Interfering style blamed for army setbacks --by Julian Borger "Whatever
happens now, this has become 'Rumsfeld's war'.
If Saddam Hussein's regime suddenly collapses, his superstar status
from the Afghan war, when he proved the doubters wrong, will only be
enhanced. If it slides into a gruelling slog, as coalition casualties
climb into the hundreds, there is no doubt he will take the blame.
[Is Rumsfeld becoming the fall-guy for the Idiot Usurping Lying Dictatorial
Weasel? I view the police action in Iraq as "Bush's W-ar",
and the US is losing. --Lori Price]

Offense
and Defense --by Seymour
M. Hersh The battle between Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon --"According
to a dozen or so military men I spoke to, Rumsfeld simply failed
to anticipate the consequences of protracted warfare... In the months
leading up to the war, a split developed inside the military, with the
planners and their immediate superiors warning that the war plan
was dangerously thin on troops and matériel..."

Report:
Rumseld Ignored Pentagon Advice on Iraq
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon
planners that substantially more troops and armor would be needed to
fight a war in Iraq, New Yorker Magazine reported.

Under
fire: the architects of warTony
Blair suffered a backlash from senior Labour MPs over the war in Iraq
yesterday when a former minister warned that the conflict could turn
into anotherVietnam.

U.S.
officials concede they 'misjudged' Iraqi defections
A three-month U.S. effort to persuade Iraq's generals and Baath Party
leaders to surrender and oust Saddam Hussein is being scaled back after
it failed to produce any significant defections, U.S. intelligence
[? Intelligence?? Not!!] and military officials said.

Powell
warns Syria and Iran US
Secretary of State Colin Powell has issued a fresh warning to Iraq's
neighbours, Syria and Iran, to stop supporting terrorism.

Back
Off, Syria and Iran! --by
Maureen Dowd "The incoherence of the battle plan — which
some retired generals say is three infantry divisions short — has made
the guts and stamina and ingenuity of American forces even more remarkable.
Rummy was beginning to erase his fingerprints. 'The war plan,' he said,
'is Tom Franks's war plan.' Tommy, we hardly knew ye. Paul Wolfowitz,
Rummy's deputy, conceded that the war planners may have underestimated
the hardiness of the heartless Iraqi fighters. This admission is
galling."

Sergeant's
suicidal act of war has struck fear into Allied hearts
--by Robert Fisk "Sergeant Ali Jaffar Moussa Hamadi al-Nomani was
the first Iraqi combatant known to stage a suicide attack. Not even
during the uprising against British rule did an Iraqi kill himself to
destroy his enemies. Nomani was also a Shia Muslim – a member of
the same sect the Americans faithfully believed to be their secret
ally in their invasion of Iraq.

3
US Marines Die in Copter Crash
Three US Marines were killed and at least one injured when a UH-1 Huey
transport helicopter crashed in southern Iraq, the Pentagon announced
yesterday.

Infantry
Attacks Baghdad Defense With First Probes
American Marine and Army infantry units arrayed along a broad front
south of Baghdad on Sunday made their first probing attacks against
the Republican Guard division at Karbala, about 65 miles from the capital,
after a week of heavy aerial bombardment on the Iraqi forces that guard
the approaches to Saddam Hussein's stronghold.

Bombs
shake centre of Baghdad
Baghdad suffered another night of heavy bombing and a series of huge
explosions reverberated through the city, igniting an inferno in the
Iraqi ministry of information.

POWs
or Terrorists? U.S. Brig.
Gen. Vincent Brooks said no decision had been made to designate
any of the more than 4,000 Iraqi prisoners as unlawful combatants
and send them to a prison [concentration] camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
where Afghanistan peasants were incarcerated after the Afghanistan war.

Wounded
British soldiers condemn US 'cowboy' pilot
British soldiers injured when a US "tankbuster" aircraft attacked their
convoy, killing one of their comrades, hit out angrily at the "cowboy"
pilot today. Troops wounded in Friday's attack accused the
A-10 Thunderbolt pilot of "incompetence and
negligence" while others privately called for a manslaughter
prosecution.

Another
market massacre in Baghdad
Last Friday, for the second time in two days, US missiles hit a busy
market street in a working class district of Baghdad, killing and wounding
scores of innocent civilians—the same slum dwellers that Dictator Bush
and Prime Minister Blair had claimed would rise up to overthrow the
Iraqi regime as soon as the war began. British journalist Robert Fisk
refuted American and British claims that an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile
was responsible for the carnage.

Baghdad
Journal--by Wade Hudson
"Our hotel shook like a San Francisco earthquake probably thirty
or forty times. Often the bombs would hit one second after another for
ten or fifteen minutes. The rolling thunder of the B-52s is an experience
that I will never forget. And a number of times our building would shake
even though we heard no bomb explode... It boggles the mind to realize
how many bombs that they have at their disposal, to drop repeatedly
as if it were nothing more than confetti."

British
Soldiers Refuse to Fight
Two British servicemen have been sent home from the Middle East after
refusing to fight in the war against Iraq, The Sunday Times reported.
They said they would refuse to fight because of the civilian casualties
being caused by the US-British attack.

Nobel
Prize Winner Blasts Bush's W-ar at Palm
Beach Fundraiser After
guests had been served chocolate mousse and berries, former Costa Rican
President Oscar Arias took the mike and spent about 15 minutes lambasting
the United States -- telling some 225 guests that hopes of peace had
been dashed by Dictator Bush. The president of Costa Rica from 1986
to 1990, Arias was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1987 for drafting a
peace plan in Central America.

Police
pepper-spray protesters, arrest three
(Pittsburgh) Swissvale and Edgewood police used pepper spray yesterday
afternoon to break up an anti-war protest march as they ordered demonstrators
from the middle of Braddock Avenue to the sidewalks. Three people were
arrested, including at least one person who was on the sidewalk.
Pittsburgh
Police "officers" arrestanti-war demonstrator Gwendolyn
Schmidt after she was pepper sprayed during a march Sunday, March
30, 2003, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Pittsburgh
police use pepper spray on anti-war protesters after the protesters
began an "unpermitted" [?!? How can a protest be "unpermitted?"
They are de facto, permitted, by
the US Constitution] march Sunday, March 30, 2003, in Pittsburgh.

Conservatives
'fed up' with protesters
Dozens of flag-waving rallies for American troops in Iraq look like
spontaneous, grass-roots gatherings. But many are orchestrated by
conservative political groups [and the Clear Channel conglomerate],
just as anti-war protests are led by peace groups and activists on the
political left.

Insane and hateful N.Y.
Post editorial, calling for Columbia professor
to be gunned down: "Where's
the Ohio National Guard when you really need it? Seriously? Hey,
if a campus crank can wish for personal calamity to befall U.S. forces
in Iraq, why not fantasize about a volley of Kent State-style militia
musketry rattled off in his general direction? Not that Nicholas
De Genova, an untenured prof of something or other at Columbia University,
is worth the effort."

Anti-War
on Iraq Rallies throughout Somalia
Thousands of slogan-shouting demonstrators have taken to the streets
of Somali cities to protest the US-led war on Iraq, media reports from
Mogadishu said. Somalia’s Transitional National Government (TNG) President,
Abdi Kassim Salad Hassan, has condemned the war, describing it as "naked
aggression" on Iraq. He said he was praying for an
Iraqi victory.

When
in Doubt, Wave the Flag and Wag the Tail
--by P.M. Carpenter "It shouldn't be the case that dissenting voices
must preface their remarks with love-of-one's-country declarations,
any more than it's the case that pro-war automatons don't feel the need
to. In a sane world, only pro-war voices should be required to defend
their advocacy of bloodletting versus the more peaceful status quo."

Idiot
Usurper in Philadelphia Monday The Idiot Usurping Lying Weasel
is coming to Philadelphia on Monday afternoon with Tom Ridge. He will
give a speech at the Coast Guard headquarters in Philly on homeland
suckyourity, particularly port security to raise support
for his war budget. [The Carlyle Group now owns CSX Transport. Since
Bush has worked against any type of useful anti-terrrorism legistation
for cargo ships, it should be easier for Bush to organize the next act
of terrorism on US soil, as he is losing the W-ar
in Iraq. Bush needs a new mass distraction. --Lori Price]

Undercutting
the 9/11 Inquiry(The New
York Times) "Reasonable people might wonder if the White House,
having failed in its initial attempt to have Henry Kissinger steer the
investigation, may be resorting to budgetary starvation as a tactic
to hobble any politically fearless inquiry... The nation demands
an unflinching 9/11 search. A forthright Congress could easily shake
the money loose from the Capitol leadership."

Patriot
Act 11 - the sequelCitizens
can stop government power grab (The Miami Herald) "Warrantless
surveillance. Secret arrests. Indefinite detention. Is this totalitarian
Cuba? No, it's what the U.S. Justice Department is planning, based on
legislation that Justice lawyers have been secretly drafting for
months... No member of Congress, including those on key committees,
was aware that the Justice Department was working on the 'Domestic Security
Enhancement Act of 2003' -- or Patriot Act II, as it has been dubbed
-- when a draft was leaked last month. That led to concerns that Justice
intended to introduce the measure as a 'stealth
bill,' at a time of high anxiety about national security, as
happened with the original Patriot Act."

Airport
watch for killer pneumonia
Upgraded surveillance at Australian airports is being considered among
tougher measures to reduce the risk of a lethal new pneumonia arriving
in the country.

US
arms trader to run Iraq
Ex-general who will lead reconstruction heads firm behind Patriot missiles
--Jay Garner, the retired US general who will oversee humanitarian relief
and reconstruction in postwar Iraq, is president of an arms company
that provides crucial technical support to missile systems vital to
the US invasion of the country.

Man
who would be 'king' of Iraq
Jay Garner is the hawkish head of the Pentagon agency that will be handling
lucrative reconstruction deals -- Jay Garner is closely linked with
the group of hawks centred on US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (who
gave him his latest job), his deputy Paul Wolfowitz and Vice pResident
Dick Cheney, who are as keen to bypass the UN in the aftermath of
war as they were before it.

'Ex-presidents
club' gets fat on conflict
High-flying venture capital firm Carlyle Group
cashes in when the tanks roll --For 15 years one of America's
most powerful venture capital groups has tried to play down suggestions
that its multi-billion dollar funds get fat on the back of global conflict.
But now, with the invasion of Iraq under way, a new book chronicling
the relatively short history of the Carlyle Group threatens to draw
attention to the company's close links with the Pentagon.

UK
pushes for a share of the spoils
The UK government last week put pressure on the Bush dictatorship to
include UK companies in its plans for reconstruction in a post-conflict
Iraq.

Fury
at Costain's 'bypass UN' advice
British construction giant Costain is under severe pressure to retract
comments by its chief executive urging the British government to 'bypass'
United Nations efforts to reconstruct Iraq. On Friday, Costain chief
Stuart Doughty told Reuters: 'If you go down the UN route, that means
you go to the world to get the best price... [which is not only] political
dynamite, but morally awful... Let's ensure that those who have been
violently against this conflict don't share in the reconstruction.'
His words sparked fury among humanitarian groups.

Arab
Press Predicting Bloodbath
Columnists Note Lack of Quick Victory --Arab columnists have started
sounding shrill alarms warning of bloodbaths and massacres in Iraq,
expressing dismay that the U.S.- and British-led war is not turning
out to be as short as initially had been suggested.

Push
Toward Baghdad Is Reaffirmed
Dictator Bush yesterday encouraged his senior generals to keep their
sights fixed on Baghdad despite the unexpectedly stiff resistance
still plaguing allied forces far to the south of the Iraqi capital --
resistance that has some field commanders pleading for a new plan.

This gem from the Stupid-Is-As-Stupid-Does-Vietnam-Redux-Section:U.S.
Mounts House-to-House Sweeps "It is a Vietnam-style
environmentwith high tensions on both sides -- and, often,
ambiguous results. U.S. troops walk through with weapons poised, unable
to understand words spoken to them, detaining people they think might
be shooting at them the next night, but often unsure if they get the
right ones."

War's
Military, Political Goals Begin to Diverge
Ten days into the invasion of Iraq, the political imperative of waging
a short and decisive campaign is increasingly at odds with the military
necessity of preparing for a protracted, more violent and costly
war, according to senior military officials.

Misfiring
Tomahawks land in Saudi Arabia
Some US Tomahawk cruise missiles aimed at Iraq have fallen on Saudi
Arabia, forcing planners to suspend certain routes for launches,
US military commanders say.

Turks
shower U.S. soldiers with eggs, stones
Turkish villagers showered U.S. soldiers with eggs and stones on Saturday
when they arrived to recover pieces of a Tomahawk cruise missile
which came down in eastern Turkey on Friday.

Special
Search Operations Yield No Banned Weapons
The [Anglo-American forces] teams set down at camouflaged structures
believed to house chemical warheads, Scud missiles and eight-wheeled
transporter-erector launchers, known as TELs. The mission turned up
nothing. There were "no missiles, no TELs and no chemicals" where
blueprints and scale-model terrain tables had directed the teams to
look, one knowledgeable official said.

More Lies from the Bush
regime:We
have been had by the Pentagon!! "Today the Pentagon's press
conference featured a video of an Iraqi young woman reading a letter
from her cousin that was tortured in Iraq. The woman's name is Rania
Rashi, she was born in Kuwait, and she is a student at Cambridge, and
she doesn't wear a veil! Sunday morning saw Kashi touring TV studios
admitting she had never been to Iraq, was
born in Kuwait of Iraqi refugee parents
and had arrived in Britain at the age of three
months."

Iraqi
Withdrawal in North Moves Kurds Closer to Key Oil Center
Without firing a shot, Kurdish militiamen moved closer Saturday to the
key prize of the north-- Kirkuk and
its oil fields -- after Iraqi forces
staged a sudden withdrawal to possibly plug defenses targeted by U.S.
airstrikes. [Oh. I thought this was not a W-ar
for oil? WHERE are the
WMDs that Dictator Bush said that President Hussein was hiding???
--Lori Price]

During
the past seven days of the war the US Navy detained all ships in the
Persian Gulf going to Iraq under the US "Oil for Food" program.
Since yesterday all these ships are being unloaded in Kuwait. Unloaded
food is being delivered by the US military to Iraq and is being distributed
as "American humanitarian aid" and as a part of the "rebuilding Iraq"
program. These US actions have already cause
a serious scandal in the UN. The US explained its actions
by its unilateral decision to freeze all Iraqi financial assets, including
the Iraqi financial assets with the UN. These assets the US now
considers its property and will exercise full control over them.
Captains of the detained ships have already called these actions
by the US a "piracy."

US
soldiers in Iraq asked to pray for Bush
They may be the ones facing danger on the battlefield, but US soldiers
in Iraq are being asked to pray for [nutcase] Dictator George W Bush.
Thousands of marines have been given a pamphlet called "A
Christian's Duty," a mini prayer book which includes a tear-out
section to be mailed to the White House pledging the soldier who sends
it in has been praying for Bush.

War
in Iraq - a week of war
According to the latest intercepted radio communications, the command
of the Anglo-American group of forces near Karabela requested at least
12 more hours to get ready to storm the town. This delay is due to the
much heavier losses sustained by the Anglo-American troops during
the sand storms then was originally believed.

US
denies Iraq campaign on hold
Anglo-American forces' commanders maintain their campaign in Iraq has
not paused, despite reports its frontline troops need up to six days
to reinforce supply lines.

Truck
hits US troops; 15 hurt
AN attacker drove a truck into a group of American soldiers at the US
base at Udairi overnight, injuring 15 people, US and Kuwaiti officials
said.

Fierce
bombing raids hit Baghdad
US-led forces have mounted one of their fiercest air assaults yet on
Baghdad, targeting the centre and outskirts of the city with repeated
bombings that drew blasts of Iraqi anti-aircraft fire.

'Bring
Our Troops Home' Former
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has denounced the war in Iraq as "bloody
and unnecessary" and called on Tony Blair to bring Britain's troops
home. And he warned that Britain and America risked stoking up a "long-term
legacy of hatred" for the West across the Arab and Muslim world.

Cook
calls for UK troop withdrawal
Former foreign secretary Robin Cook today dramatically called on Tony
Blair to bring Britain's troops home from Iraq. Mr Cook - whose resignation
as Leader of the Commons was the mosthigh-profile political
protest against UK involvement in the war - denounced the campaign
in Iraq as "bloody and unjust".

Resignation
Letter from U.S. Diplomat
Mary Wright's letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell
--Wright was most recently the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy
in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. (March 19, 2003) "Military action
now without UNSC agreement is much more dangerous for America and the
world than allowing the UN weapons inspections to proceed and subsequently
taking UNSC authorized action if warranted."

Human
Shield News Email From
Waratah (Rosemarie Gillespie, 22 March 2003 ), Baghdad. "Last night
the United States bombarded Iraq with 1000 missiles. Three hundred and
twenty of them hit Baghdad. One of them landed near the April 7 Water
Treatment Plant where I am living...The United
States, by firing the missile that landed so close to
us last night, close to a Red Cross installation, has
committed an act of criminal recklessness. These
missiles are themselves clearly weapons of mass destruction,
part of a huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction ready to be hurled
at Iraq, its people, and us."

Al-Jazeera
Calls on US to Ensure Free Press[Good luck w. that one, LOL! The Bush-bought "embedded"
US media is nothing but a Pentagon mouthpiece.] Banned on Wall Street
and wiped off the Internet, Arab news channel Al-Jazeera defended its
coverage of the Iraq war on Wednesday and demanded the United States
come to its aid in the name of a free press. Al-Jazeera voiced concern
after two of its reporters were banned from the New York Stock Exchange
and its websites were hacked.

British
Govt apologises for execution claim
As the first British casualties in the Iraqi war were flown home today,
Prime Minister Tony Blair was under attack for declaring that two
British soldiers were executed by Iraqi forces after being taken
prisoner.

US
Navy's 'Flipper' goes AWOL
Australian military divers yesterday questioned the effectiveness of
the US Navy's mine-clearing dolphins [?!?], revealing one had
disappeared for two days.

Takoma
the dolphin is Awol The
US Marines have suffered an embarrassment with reports last night
that one of their most prized investigators may have defected. Takoma,
the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, had been in Iraq for 48 hours
when he went missing on his first operation to snoop out mines.
[That is great. What a brilliant dolphin! --Lori Price]

Tens
of Thousands Around World Rally for Peace
Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Boston to
protest the war in Iraq, the latest in a wave of peace demonstrations
that circled the globe on Saturday. In what officials and historians
said was the biggest protest in Boston in at least 30 years, thousands
chanted "This is what democracy looks like'' as they paraded
through the elegant streets of America's education capital.

This
is what Democracy looks like (huge Boston rally)
Posted by samela "Finally, Boston pulled together for a huge rally
and march today. I can't tell you how many because I don't know how
to estimate crowds. But the very minimum was 10,000....it may be as
many as 50,000. Kudos to Mayor Menino who opened the subways
for free (ours was filled with other sign carriers!) and offered reduced-rate
parking for the event. The 'T' conductors were even into it: 'Boylston
Street--last stop for the Peace Rally!'"

Oscar
winner targets Bush and bin Laden
Fresh from his Oscar ceremony tirade against a 'fictitious President'
fighting a 'fictitious war', documentary-maker Michael Moore has said
he is setting his sights on the "alleged" links between former
President George Bush senior and the Saudi family of Osama bin Laden.
Although the bin Laden family has severed its ties with Osama, 'the
senior Bush kept his ties with the bin Laden family up until two months
after 11 September,' Moore claimed.

CDC
Telebriefing Transcript
SARS Update --"DR. GERBERDING: ...we are concerned about the possibility
of airborne transmission across broader areas and also the possibility
that objects that become contaminated in the environment could serve
as modes of spread."

Hospitals
face tight control Staff
don gowns, masks as police guard entrances
--Police and security guards posted at hospital entranceways.
Health-care workers gowned and masked for every patient in hospitals
throughout the Toronto area. These are some of the measures provincial
officials announced yesterday to further tighten control over hospitals
in an attempt to contain the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS).